


Where The River Goes: Towa/Setsuna/Moroha

by TheYuriReviewer



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale, 半妖の夜叉姫 | Hanyou no Yashahime | Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon (Anime)
Genre: Big History Buff, F/F, Flashbacks, Incestual Musings, Intrigue, Kinda fluffy but also kinda serious, Late 80's Japanese Aesthetic, Lotsa of flashbacks in flashbacks, Multiple Personality Disorder, Polyamory, Re-discovering Sibling Love, Side character couples, Yuri, first person POV, slowburn, switching POV, wax poetic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:47:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27460678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheYuriReviewer/pseuds/TheYuriReviewer
Summary: Towa is reunited with her sister and a catty, bratty bounty haunter when the three start having more than indecent feelings for each other.Follows main plot with major changes.Lots of grunge influence in this.Title from same named song by STP off Core. RIP Scott Weiland.
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/Sango, Higurashi Towa & Moroha & Setsuna, Higurashi Towa/Moroha, Hisui/Mei, Moroha/Setsuna, Setsuna/Towa Higurashi
Comments: 15
Kudos: 42





	1. No Memory

Towa

_

Punks. That’s what they were. Wannabe Yakuza thugs. Not even Yakuza material.

If they really had some balls, they wouldn’t beat up on civilians. Yakuza code demands non-violence on non-participants.

Utter disgrace to an organization so rich in traditionalist values. Honors of courage, sacrifice, and honesty are lost on these hoodlums.

_‘So, why am I even dealing with em’, you ask?’_

I picked up my bag, a bit rattled from the dent it made in the leader’s face a minute ago.

_‘Cause well, they fucking piss me off. That’s why. Reminded me of those bandits Setsuna and I had to fend off back when we were young._

_Ah, those were the days. Setsuna and I were inseparable.’_

I made my way down the sidewalk, waving to the bikers passing by leisurely. My face contorted a bit at the next thought.

_‘But now, I’m not so sure. If she were to miraculously show up again, I’m not so sure what I would do.’_

“Would I embrace her lovingly like we did once before or would she be too far removed to even be my kin anymore?”

_‘A conversation could kill.’_

I sat by a near bench, contemplating the memories of old, as if they were of yesterday’s past.

_‘Her dizzy head conscience laden. Time we wait, too long. To wait too long.’_

A sobering feeling, for sure one I was not keen on following.

It’s been 8 years since then. Time enough for loss to heal. Though, never completely.

I still miss her dearly.

_

Tardy, yet apathetic, I walked in late. I wish they’d just send me to the next school already. Move this shit along, seriously. So? It’s a girls school. Don’t mean a goddamn thing. Pretty sexist actually to think girls couldn’t kick the shit out of their mates’ the same.

I ain’t bout’ that life though. Naturally as Mei said, I’d like to be more well just a bit more “girly”. I fancy the idea, truly I do.

Course, I’m not in the business of having some two-bit ‘prince’ dictated to me my shit. I’d rather BE the Prince. Princes were historically more effeminate anyway.

Louis XIV was probably gay, anyway. And by extension, so was Marie Antoinette. My Tussaud, least Polignac Gabrielle came to me, I would reign.

My Sidonie in disguise. I hope to find her one day.

They must be steadfast like me. I can’t have my significant other being some pansy, taking shit from these degenerates. No, they must be as strong as me. My match. My equal. My one and only.

Could such a person fit that description? Weeeell, definitely not here. That for damn sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yakuza doctrine states harm to outsiders is forbidden as it causes unnecessary problems for the family and is viewed as childish to the brotherhood.
> 
> Louis XIV was impotent and as such, many thought he had courted men as gay lovers to his estate.
> 
> Sidonie is the disguise for alleged lover of Marie Antoinette, Gabrielle of Polignac. Marie Antoinette was accused of sleeping with courtesans in her Petit Trianon in Versailles.
> 
> No Memory is off Core by STP.
> 
> We see Setsuna next.


	2. I Can't Remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Setsuna recalls one of the few memories she has. A memory that changed her perceptions.
> 
> Re-Canon:
> 
> Setsuna was under the tutelage of Kaede and knows Sango and Kohaku.  
> She is also aware of Inuyasha, Miroku, and Kagome, and treats them with the respect of lords and ladies though she's never met any of them in person.
> 
> Kohaku is in love with Setsuna.
> 
> Sango is about 38. Setsuna is 18.
> 
> Title taken for AiC off of Facelift. RIP Layne Staley.

Two Years Before Current 

Setsuna

_

As I looked out to the rising sun, I felt a small ache in my chest. Untoward, it seemingly came from nowhere.

Logically, it would stem from something I consumed, perhaps a dish prepared incorrectly. Or an illness from the land. But that was not thinking rationally. I was not sick nor was I fed by an inept cook. These were preposterous accusations, swimming about my head.

I looked to Kohaku-san and Kirara-san as I walked alongside them. A quiet day for once, the demons seemed dormant, for now.

So, what was this ache? It did not feel necessarily physical but its presence still weakened me mentally. It was akin to a large realization of a shocking event. Like trauma.

But, I do not remember any such trauma. Training under Lady Kaede was my earliest memory. Not to say I had no understanding that my childhood had happened, I simply do not remember where. My childhood has been lost to me. I decided such things were unimportant now and turned back to walk with them.

Kohaku-san, ever the bastion of our forces, strode brimming with confidence. His face was staunch yet kind, showing progression and truth. His sister, the illustrious Lady Sango. The mother of our special forces. I recalled a talk I had with her some time ago:

_ “He is my brother. He wished to tell you in person, not have me pass it along. You know how...open he can be,” she said. _

_ “Yes, Lady Sango. Though, I do not wish to tread on his feelings, I...do not feel the same way he feels about me. I do not know how to tell him this. He has approached in kind with loving gestures, all of which are flattering and wonderful in their own right, yet his love for me is...unfounded. I would never want to, mislead him.” _

_ “You’re gonna have to tell him then. Ya know, ever since you joined some years ago, he was smitten with you. Hehe...such pure affection too. Haha.” _

_ She continued giggling at me. Unfettered, I continued. _

_ “I realize that. Was it like this with Lord Miroku?” _

_ “Miroku? Oh, goodness no! Miroku was too lecherous to be romantic like that. Hehehe...you know, I’ll let you in on a little secret...and I haven’t told this to Miroku or Inuyasha.” _

_ “Yes...Lady Sango?” _

_ “You of course know, Kagome-chan?” _

_ “Kagome-sama? What of her ladyship?” _

_ She laughed a bit. “You don’t have to speak so formally about her, ya know.” _

_ “What of...Kagome...san, then?” The lack of a deserving honorific stained my teeth, feeling so unfamiliar and strange to me. _

_ “Well, just between you and me, I dated her for awhile.” _

_ I frowned. “Dated? I never heard of that term before. Did you travel with her then? I already knew of those stories.” _

_ She laughed again, this time more at my confusion than rising embarrassment. _

_ “To “date” someone is like...courtship but more casual.” _

_ “Casual?”  _

_ “Yeah, you know, kinda nonchalant. Like no biggie.” _

_ “?” _

_ She saw that she was only confusing me more but couldn’t stop tittering at me. She smiled warmly and continued. _

_ “...These are terms from Kagome-chan’s homeland. I don’t fully understand them myself, but her home is much more open about these mating rituals and such.” _

_ “Lady Sango, did you speak of courtship...with Kagome-sama? Was this perhaps a lord with the same name? I do not understand.” _

_ “No, no Setsuna-san. Ya see, in Kagome-chan’s land, women can court each other too. There’s nothing unusual or taboo about young girls and even grown women courting each other. Course, a grown woman can’t court a young girl, still. That’s frowned upon.” _

_ I was still confused. But, all the same, Lady Sango was not an unintelligent woman. My curiosity got the better of me. _

_ “Hehe. Setsuuunaaa~, you have this stern look on your face. Come, sit down in the grass with me.” _

_ She patted the side next to her at the bank of the river, urging me to relax. _

_ I relented, taking the place next to her. “So...when two women find...companionship, in each other…” _

_ “You can just say “LOVE”, Setsuna-san! The word itself is not gonna burn you.” _

_ She was just a mess of giggling at my admittedly timid reception. I began again. _

_ “When two women “Love” each other, how do they-” _

_ “Have sex?” _

_ “NO! No, Lady Sango! No!” _

_ For the longest time I had been quite bereft of higher emotion yet embarrassment filled me fully. She only laughed more heartily. I reiterated. _

_ “No, how do they marry? If they wish to be as betrothed to each other?” _

_ “It’s not betrothal. They just meet someone they want to share their life and love with. _

_ Simple, right?” _

_ She caressed my hand at that spoken notion. It was an earnest gesture, one of undoubted love. I felt the kindness in her eyes. _

_ “Hmmm...I guess I understand. It’s just… if Lord Miroku was your beloved how did you, I mean, how did you have relations with Kagome-Sama?” _

_ “Ah...Setsuna, you will learn one day that love is complicated. You see, Miroku and Inuyasha had been, “unfaithful”, shall we say, to us, Kagome-chan and I.” _

_ “Pardon me saying so, but that sentiment coming from his Lordship doesn’t seem all that surprising.” _

_ She cackled in response. _

_ “True, but it wasn’t the kind of “promiscuity” he is known for. There truly was “another woman” for him. This time.” _

_ Her usual cheery demeanor had changed, to one of sorrow. Though she was composed, still smiling, I could see it pained her to speak of this. _

_ “How horrible. Well at least his lordship was the fool in this case. No woman could ever replace you, Lady Sango.” _

_ That seemed to spark some joy in her. I was glad. I hated seeing this proud woman so vulnerable. I asked. _

_ “Was it not his decision?” _

_ “Well, it was but that wasn’t the whole story. Nevertheless, I felt betrayed. At the same time, Kagome-chan had been discovering her love for Inuyasha at this time. At first they were at each other’s throats, always bickering. But then, it just...happened. They fell in love, or rather they would have a lot sooner if not for Inuyasha’s infidelity.” _

_ I had never heard of this aspect of Lord Inuyasha before. Technically, none of the younger lords and ladys of the second age were that well known. Only their legends. Only their legendary defeat of the demon lord, Naraku. _

_ “Tell me more, Lady Sango.” _

_ “Oh, don’t worry your pretty little head. Setsuna-san. There is plenty more to this.” _

_ At this point, she patted my head gently. _

_ It wasn’t condescending, like it would be if it was another individual. It reminded me of a mother. My mother even. Whomever she was, I did not know. She kept on. _

_ “There was this woman from the first age who looked exactly like Kagome. The very spitting image, Kikyo.” _

_ “Kik...yo-san?” _

_ “Yes, I’m sure you were never introduced to her. She was...an enemy of sorts. Yet, she was strikingly beautiful. If not for Kagome, it would be understandable that he would be so attracted to her. After all, they had been in love before.” _

_ “They had? What happened to this Lady, Kikyo?’ _

_ “She died shortly after sealing Inuyasha to the sacred tree.’ _

_ “And Kagome-san?” _

_ “She was the reincarnation of Kikyo many generations later.” _

_ Reincarnation? I had heard of such things but hearing about it so factually, it was a bit disconcerting. But then, a crucial point I realized I had ignored subconsciously before was now brought up. _

_ “Wait...if Lady Kikyo had passed sometime ago, was Lord Inuyasha in love with her afterwards? I did not think he would be into such-” _

_ “Ah! Yes, how could I forget to mention? There was this evil witch who conjured a doll of her to commit wicked deeds but Kikyo’s rebirth killed her.” _

_ “Hmm…” _

_ I was still confused but I knew my uninformed questions would only hinder her. She finished. _

_ “Anyway, long story short, Kikyo followed them and Inuyasha...chased after her. As did Miroku with...that woman. But I learned to forgive. I learned he was led astray. I learned they had erred in their judgment… _

_ And yet,” _

_ She snickered but smiled, with memories of true adoration and love permeating her entire being. _

_ “Those nights with Kagome. Those wondrous nights with her, wrapped in each other’s soft embrace...they were the BEST I ever had. And they will never know. Only us girls will ever have the privilege of such pure love.” _

_ I was colored pink at this point, Lady Sango just continued and I had no foreseeable reference for her...strangeness. _

_ “The moral of the story is to always keep your options open. You’re a warrior and therefore more independent than the maidens tied down by societal customs of the Orient. You never know when you’ll find the right person. So stay strong, Setsu.” _

_ She kissed me on the cheek, stood up, and strolled off, waving coyly at my gobsmacked posture. _

_ “Setsuna, I could fall for you, but I would never take your first. So that is just a taste of what’s to come. Watch out now, there may just be a grown woman out there trying to court a young girl like yourself. Teehee…” _

_ I sat there, red as the brightest strawberry. But oh so, warm. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next is Moroha.


	3. Searching With My Good Eye Closed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Setsuna meets Moroha and begins questioning many things.
> 
> Re-Canon:
> 
> Moroha is 18. She is also way more flirty.  
> Hisui travels with Setsuna on missions. She is now 20, as the last chapter had been two years prior  
> Kohaku left 2 years ago.
> 
> Title is off Badmotorfinger by Soundgarden. Rip Chris Cornell.

Moroha

_

I gazed upon the feral radiant beauty of the setting Sun, basking in its unrelenting honesty. No qualms concerning good or evil. No sides. Just a light forever shining in the sky. Even as the moon annually eclipses her, she remains vigilant, sweet Taiyō shining through Tsuki’s gaze.

The stars were her allies, pointing us to new horizons she allowed us to see. Of all the terrors I’ve witnessed, the Sun has been next to me, comforting me from the trauma of Life's malevolence. The plague on the surface of sweet Gaia, tainting her day in day out. The wretched.

Though now, I live to cull such things. That’s my credo now. And I couldn’t be happier.

“WHAT COULD BE MORE THRILLING?!”

To dedicate one's life to the worship of our Lordess, Amaterasu. To destroy the creations of Orochi with blade siblings, forged by the eminent Susano. To honor Izanami’s love and quiet Izanagi’s rage.

SUCH...Exhilaration.

_

I walked a path, travelled many times. By walkers of old and new, how much history emanates from these grounds. History…

“And evil.”

My attuned snout made short work of my raised suspicions.

“It’s a large one,

And, it’s close”

I felt its malice, burning nature itself with its presence. 

An insect-like form emerged from the clearing up ahead. As did a large...fox? 

“I think?"

It was seemingly tamed, by a human no less!

He was a small boy. No more than ten, with a weapon much too unwieldy for a “man” his size. 

_‘Ah, but what do I know? He could kickass.’_

I smiled in anticipation of the hunt.

_

Setsuna

_

She...was “smaller” than I imagined. And honestly, I didn’t hold that against her. But...she was an outlaw.

And we kinda...persecute those.

_

_Donning my hunting garb, (which, Lady Kaede had just blessed today) I pondered the sash, laid upon my shoulder. These memories of old, locked away for as long as I could remember, plagued me._

_“Lady Kaede, I will return soon. We have scouted a demon not too far from Heiwa. And also, a demon hunter not of Yōkai taijiya, a vigilante. The...Red Spirit, Moroha.”_

_“Setsuna-san, take Hisui with you. He needs more training regarding these ruffians.”_

_“Understood,” I answered, bowing before her._

_She smiled warmly. “Kohaku-san is very lucky to have you.”_

_I remained stiff and loyal, yet the growing irritation of these misunderstandings irked me._

_My chest felt heavy again. I couldn’t so easily shrug this off this time. I felt flushed, like butter scraped over too much bread._

_I wounded my pride to be so visibly vulnerable._

_I left the tent immediately, trying desperately to reconcile these misgivings._

___

_We traveled on Kirara, Lady Sango’s precious yokai. From the generations birthed by the great Tamamo-No-Mae, she had been her loyal friend through many dangers. Her courageous love emanated from her magnificent beauty._

_On our way there, Hisui spoke to me._

_He spoke rarely to those he viewed as superiors and he was, honestly, most awkward around me. Yet, I felt he had affections for some of the other girls. It was natural for a boy his age and I, though stern, was within his circle of trust. That made me smile, something if you truly knew me, I seldom did._

_He said, “Lady...Setsuna. A girl...asked for my hand the other day.”_

_He held onto my midsection more tightly, nervous and shy._

_‘Apparently, I’m more clairvoyant than I thought, hehe.’_

_“Hisui-san, you must decide for yourself, who you wish to spend your life with. You are a sworn warrior, born to the Yōkai taijiya. If it is your wish to court her, then you must accept the responsibility.”_

_“But I don’t even know her name. How can I be sure of anything now?”_

_I felt his unease, as if it were my own. My empathy showed, uncommon as it was. He continued._

_“Lord Kohaku...will he...come back soon?”_

_He spoke of Kohaku-san’s journey, a holy mecca. Kohaku-san was still distraught with the long ago possession of himself by Naraku. A demon slayer many times higher than I, I could not fathom the sorrow he endured._

_It was a power beyond me._

_Nevertheless, I attempted to comfort Hisui, “Kohaku-san will return. I promise you that. Do not tarry from your full stride now. You have given so much to our cause; you have nothing to be ashamed of.”_

_He brightened at this. But one final niggling concern still paced in his mind and against his better judgment, he blurted it out:_

_“Lady Setsuna, was he not your lover? You are so kind and beautiful. Any man would be elated to have courted you. Surely, he has consumm-”_

_“Hisui-san, Not. Another. Word.”_

_I kept my voice iron but my chest pounded at a lethal pace. And my face could not sustain its steel._

_‘I have no interest in him that way. This isn’t some pithy shy romance. I DON’T FEEL THE SAME. Why can they not understand this?’_

_*sniff*_

_“This smell of death...it draws near. Be on your guard, Hisui-san.”_

_A centipede appeared below in the waterfall clearing, rising by the pond, with a woman's torso a-top its evil form. But so much more curious was the individual below, her hair a dark black, matted like a wild animal._

_A coat of fur, ruffled and aged. Marred by many a battle._

_And her face...a spitting image of Lord Inuyasha._

_No mistake. The bounty hunter, Moroha._

_I had only seen vague depictions of her, yet I knew of her reputation._

_The Fire Rat, Hi no Nezumi. A rebellious fighter who bowed to no one. A true force to be reckoned with._

_And yet…_

_

_‘I want to pet her.’_

*SMAAAACK*

I immediately slapped myself right after that heinous thought, befuddling Hisui-san.

_‘Whaaaat?! You can’t be serious right now! Are you out of your mind?!’_

_‘But she’s so cute. And small. And looks like an adorable cat...demon...girl...thing...anyway, she’s cute as a butto-’_

_‘YEAH! Who annihilated our forces while pursuing highly dangerous Oni who laid waste to countless villages! And, she probably aided in the destruction!’_

_‘And yet, you agree with me, even just a little.’_

_‘Agree with you?! I AM YOU! And I’m saying to cease this train of thought AT ONCE!’_

I felt fluff and warmth, the likes of which actually interfered with my ability to stay on Kirara. _‘This fantasy is going way too-’_

*SHINK*

I felt a searing pain from my cheek.

_

Moroha

_

“Hey, YOU! THIS IS MY KILL!”

She pissed me off, showing up out of nowhere, trying to take credit for my next quarry. I readied my sacred arrows.

'First shot is a warning, my mercy. I am not a stone cold killer. And yet, she does not stir. She stares straight at me, with an almost inquisitive look about her. As if...she is lost...deep in thought.’

_‘To strike now, when she...looks so tranquil. Maybe, I shou-’_

The monster lunged forward causing me to loose the arrow on instinct.

“NO! I didn’t mean-”

_ 

Setsuna

_

Blood trickled forward. My surprise heightened instantly, and years of grown muscle memory and instinct took over. Gone were the lovely thoughts and the mind’s argument.

Only my impulses remained.

I leapt from Kirara, readying my Kanemitsu no Tomoe, for the now sealed fate of my enemy was certain.

_

Moroha

_

_‘Well, no backing out now.’_

I readied Kurikaramaru, stance of the strongest stone. I didn’t want to hurt her, really I didn’t. But now I saw the fight in her eyes and knew I would not survive if I showed her grace.

“You, demon hunter Moroha, the infamous Red Spirit and Fire Rat, you have been wanted for crimes of rebellion and insurrection against the Yōkai taijiya and the surrounding villages burned by your actions. You will be tried for these crimes, in a manner-”

“Sorry, no can do. Ya know, you’re kinda cute with your demands for my surrender but guess what Babydoll? I don’t give a shit!”

I shook my hips and appointed, taunting her. She was obviously flustered by that but not for the reasons I thought she would. I continued.

“Hmm...the big bad warrior princess is more fragile than I thought. Too bad, and I thought this would be fun! Cutie like you can’t match me! Might as well fight that pipsqueak above you. Hey, Pipsquea-”

That made her snap. She surged forward at me.

“So, you have chosen death, have you?” She yelled.

_‘That’s cute. She’s all puffed up now.”_

_

Setsuna

_

Now she was really getting on my nerves.

_‘She shot first, I’ll have you know! Honestly, what was I supposed to do?!’_

_‘I have to bring her in.’_

And then she taunted Hisui-san.

And that was it. I wasn’t tickled pink. I wasn’t blushing profusely.

_‘I Was Pissed Off.’_

I cursed myself for uttering such a term, even in my mind.

But all the same, her coy attitude enraged me to no end.

_‘No one. Has ever. Called me “Babydoll. What does that even mean?’_

“Hisui-san, head back. I will deal with this alone.”

“But Lady Sets-”

“GO!”

He headed off hurriedly, looking back at me with concern.

I prepared my Kanemitsu for blood.

We clashed. Katana V Naginata. She spoke up, with an uncharacteristic earnestness in her voice as we were locked in battle.

“You know, I have no real quarrel with you. I only wish to slay the demon here. Why don’t you tuck your adorable tail between your legs and run along now?”

“You, made this personal and normally I am above such things. But not this time.”

We blasted each other back, matched for now. I started my next attack,

“THEEEE PEEEARLL!!!”

Our battle was interrupted by the now more prescient problem we faced. The demon slammed into us, coiling its tail around me, grounding me tightly to the dirt below. Moroha had narrowly dodged her.

“Oh, sorry Honey. Were we ignoring you? Don’t worry. I won’t make that mistake again.” Moroha said. She assumed a water stance, one I had seen before but not by any novice.

_‘So, that title isn’t just for show.’_

The coils wrapped tighter and tighter, fully restricting me from assisting her.

“Kami! I feel so useless!”

She breathed deep and jumped, aiming for the demon’s jugular.

_

Moroha

_

“Hah! Gotcha!”

My Kurikaramaru struck it, but did not land.

“Hah, indeed. Your blade cannot pierce me, dog demon!”

It grabbed me and licked my cheek.

“O-OOK...Demon, can we skip “that” entirely. I don’t think “sweet cheeks,” over there is enjoying herself either.”

It flicked me in the forehead, taunting me in my lowly predicament. 

“The Rainbow Pearl! I feel its presence in that girl! Give me the Jewel, demon hunter!”

She crushed her harder, this proud warrior now constricted, and a brilliant orb emerged from her eye and rushed to the demon.

It promptly chomped it out of the air.

_

Setsuna

_

A mysterious light appeared in my eye and without my consent or understanding, flew to the monster. 

It transformed violently, losing its porcelain skin and replacing it with red shell and a ghastly appearance. It crushed and dropped Moroha and I could do nothing as I watched her fall into the waterfall below.

“NO!”

My fallacy, Kami wound me for my weakness.

Again.

“Hah! Sorry Love! I’m not going down that easily!”

Moroha surfaced from the cliffside, standing and reorganizing herself.

The demon laughed at her defiance. 

“Dog, you have no chance! You could not cut me before, what makes you believe you could cut me now?”

She pulled out a shell with a small red pearl sitting in the middle. 

“I don’t know how you gained so much power or what that light was but you will not have the upper hand now.”

She wiped the side of the pearl, carrying a red streak upon her finger which she applied to her arrows and bow.

‘What is she planning?’

“If you haven’t noticed, I’m a little “tied up” here!”

Such lowly jokes were inappropriate in this dire situation. 

‘What else was I supposed to do? It was probably saving me for a snack for later and I couldn’t believe the embarrassment I had right now. I was so STUPID!’

“Certainly not my finest hour.”

_

Moroha

_

I readied my bow, drawing upon my highest spirit energy.

“Heavenly Arrow Barrage!”

A volley of my quiver reigned death upon it. They pierced all over its carapace.

It froze and fell back dead into the waterfall, just as I planned.

I glanced over to the girl, still trapped and incapacitated. She seemed quite flustered as well.

“See? I had it all under control.”

She glared at me and I simply stuck out my tongue, toying with her.

“Weeeell, I certainly don’t mind seeing you like this. Rrrrarrr.”

She was fuming now and I snickered endlessly.

I decided to spare her a different form of mercy.

“I could help you, but I feel the minute I let you go, you’ll just turn around and arrest me.

But that little piece you got over there…”

I picked up her Naginata, beside the tail and admired it.

“I would love to own this beauty.”

_

Setsuna

_

Though I wanted to throttle her right now, I saw her point.

“...fine.” I bit my lip, so wishing to defy her.

“Oh! You promise to let me go?” She dropped my weapon haphazardly, jumping up and down.

“...yes.”

“AWwwww...that’s ado-wa-ble Say it again; I didn’t hear you.” She leaned close to my face with a sly grin.

She endlessly teased me now. If I wasn’t bound by my honest code, I may have ripped her head off.

‘“I said I will not persecute you. I promise. Now, GET ME OUT OF THIS!”

“I don’t know though...while I DO believe you, the sight of you squeezed like this is quite enticing. She licked her lips at that.

I exploded with red cheeks and felt close to fainting. She continued.

“I need some sort of payment...something worth your freedom. Otherwise, I think I’m plenty content just seeing you squirm.”

“What...do you want?”

“Hmmm...maybe...Oh! You're a cute warrior girl! So you probably have a lover at home. I want what he’s got. Kiss me.”

I was shocked beyond belief. ‘ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Even my enemies get the wrong idea.’

“Well? I ain’t waiting forever. Just a little kiss and you’re free. Whad’ya say?”

I was overloaded from the humiliation I was being subjected to but then I remembered the warm feelings I had before. Before this conflagration. 

The coils felt comforting all of a sudden and I got a bit bothered by the tightness in my chest and waist.

“Ooooh, are you turned on by this? Hehehe…”

“One. One kiss. Then we part ways.”

“Booooy, your man is gonna be mad.”

“I don’t have a lover.”

“You are not betrothed? With such a complexion and figure? I feel so blessed now. Kami, thank you.”

She leaned closer and closer, our nose touching now. I asked, still a bit angry but curious.

“Is...is this your first?”

“Yes,” She replied.

I closed my eyes, nervous and scared a bit. I felt her inch and inch more. 

_‘Oh, just get on with-’_

And then she moved away, my nose missing her touch immediately. I felt so betrayed. 

“H-Huh? Why?”

She just smiled, devilishly.

“Wow, you really wanted it. How cute. I was just kidding anyway. Soooooorry. But, I am not without gratitude. You gave me some real entertainment today. So, I’ll cut you fr-”

*WHOOOSH*

Suddenly, her face glowed. I scrunched up and she backed up in response. Her pearl, now floating, was flying towards the ravine.

_‘...It’s not dead.’_

The demon rose once more. Now even uglier and drenched in Sin.

Moroha stared at the behemoth before her. 

A look of pure terror, a look I felt I would not have witnessed.

“You two will die and become the foundation for my new strength, prepare yourselves demon hunters!”

_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moroha and Setsuna are staunch believers in traditional Shinto mythology.
> 
> Izanami and Izanagi are the deities of Shintoism.
> 
> We come back to Towa next time.


	4. Blind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get to the first encounter now.
> 
> Blind by Silverchair.
> 
> Recanon:  
> Mei is 8 and badass.

Towa

_

They were nowhere to be seen on the way back.

_‘Good. Serves em’ fuckin’ right.’_

I humped it back, kicking stones by the sidewalk. Yet, I had this pain in my chest. I hurried fearing uncertain omens.

_

Mei

_

“Why are you doing this? For what reason?”

Being tied to the sacred tree by a bunch of ruffians was not my idea of a fun afternoon.

I expected to be scared, terrified, even. But I couldn’t be. I couldn’t afford to show weakness. Towa was coming home and we can’t let her defend us. She’d slaughter them all. I held my ground.

_‘No, I must be the big sister now. I cannot be intimidated by these things.’_

“Just so you know, this ain’t personal. We just got beef with that bitch you house.”

The leader spoke with a falseness around his persona.

He possessed no real authority over his men. A crownless king.

“You men do not frighten us. We will stand up to you, no matter what.”

One of his lackeys approached me, brandishing a butterfly knife. He brought it up to my neck.

“Hey boss, this eight year old runt is mouthing off at you. I could fix that for ya.”

“Nah, Chino. This one’s got spunk. Gotta say, I’m impressed.”

My parents looked on in horror. I remained steadfast.

“Ya know, kid. Your sister’s the one that got you into this mess in the first place. Shouldn’t you resent her for being so stupid?” he asked.

“Resent Towa-chan? Yes, I do resent her. I resent her lack of femininity, I resent her cavalier attitude towards life, I resent her constant cussing, I resent her lack of decency in the morning and lack of responsibility to educate herself. But…

Resent her for standing up to cowards like you? Never.”

They looked dumbfounded by that statement.

“...Maybe I was wrong about this one. The bitch we need isn’t the one walking home. It’s the one right the fuck in front of us. CHINO, ventilate her!”

He went for the slice but I dipped down and bit his hand. Hard.

He dropped the knife, squealing in pain.

Still restrained I grabbed it just in the nick of time and stabbed it straight into his lower leg. He keeled over immediately, screaming bloody murder. The leader just smiled.

“Alright. Now you done goofed. We ain’t gonna make this easy for you. In fact, this is gonna be so slow you’ll be begging us to end you in no time.”

I was particularly ashamed of my next utterance, for it was foul and I didn’t wish to be off-color around my family. 

“Fuck. You.”

“Ooooh...that gave me chills boss,” another henchman sneered.

“SOMEBODY FUCKING KILL THIS CUNT!!! AGGHHHHHHHHH!!!”

Chino writhed, screaming so loud the animals resting nearby scurried off in a hurry.

“So...this is gonna be one of those times where my enemy gets no mercy from me. I’d ask you to say your prayers kid but as you clearly demonstrated to us here, you don’t wanna live another second.”

“And we ain’t given’ it to y-”

“HEY FUCKFACE!”

_

Towa

_

“Hey Fuckface! I’m the one you want! Get away from them!”

The sudden cries coming from behind the house made me fear the worst yet it seemed I had arrived in time.

“YEAH! That’s right, you!”

“So the bitch princess finally shows up. Took awhile, we were just about to introduce the little missy here to a world of pain beyond your imagination.”

I saw my family tied up to the sacred tree. They looked unharmed thankfully. 

“I’m here, aren’t I? You fucking dickless pigs!”

He scorned hard at that. Then he grinned maniacally.

“I’m going to enjoy this.”

He raised his bokken and I instinctively raised my katana in defense.

“Ah, a real japanese sword! Hmm, Jaki!” he exclaimed.

At that the other lackey grabbed Mei forcefully, a knife poised straight at her eye.

“I’ll carve up her pretty face if you so much as move an inch and don’t think for a second he’ll make the same mistake Chino made, “ he said menacingly.

“AGGHHHHH!!! FUCKING GUT HER ALLLLREEEADGGGHHHH!!!”

This Chino was still screaming profusely but they did nothing to help him. They just stared, uncaring.

“Will you not help him?” I asked, standing as still as possible.

“Serves him right. Getting bested by that little brat. Disgraceful. Fuck Chino.” he answered.

Chino looked up at him in response, with bloodied tears in his eyes. 

“B-BOSS!!” Chino pleaded.

“Shut it, jeeves. Now, prepare for-wha-WHHHAATT?!”

I was startled by a sudden, violent rumble. 

A blinding light erupted from the tree, bathing the entire area in white.

It blasted back the lackeys and my family was thrown from the binds.

I was knocked asunder into the wall beside, smashing my skull into it. But I was not down. I couldn't afford to be.

_

Setsuna

_

Suddenly, I felt a pull, otherworldly and fierce. It came forth from the sacred tree, not too far from the stream. I felt the magnitude of the gravity around me, ever increasing in its intensity. ‘If only I wasn’t coiled up like this. Agh, so humiliating.’

_

Moroha

_

“What the-?” I was being torn from my frozen state and lifted into the air. I soared above the trees, heading towards the outskirts of the village.

“Woooow! Look Setsuna-chan! We’re flying!”

I looked over to her, seeing how befuddled she was about our predicament. I simply cavorted about in the air, caring not for the sour looks she gave me. 

_

Setsuna

_

“Could you take this a BIT MORE SERIOUSLY?!” I yelled.

Her carefree attitude was to be her undoing yet I, still restrained, felt I’d be the first to falter in this oncoming situation.

We flew fast towards the tree, a brilliant light expanding from its area. And the demon holding me went with us. We were plunged inside and I had to quickly shut my eyes if only to keep my eyesight.

_

We arrived on the other side of the light...but it was not the other side of the tree, looking at the clearing behind. ‘Instead it was, it was…’

“Wh-where am I?”

It was a very sophisticated looking structure, yet too...modern. One I had certainly never seen. And, I could not recognize any of these locales. And then, there were bodies. Bodies strewn about. Unbloodied, thankfully but certainly unconscious. They wore exotic clothes of some long foreign land. So odd.

Lastly, there was one individual standing tall. Their hair, a pure white save for a red streak across one large strand. Their build was stocky and they seemed quite agile. Their clothes, also alien to me. And then there was their face. 

It was so kind and young. They looked stunning. I was...gobsmacked.

 _‘Oh!’_ They looked at me! And their expression, though serious, was smiling. 

“S-Se-Set...Setsuna...-chan? Setsuna, is that really...is that really you?”

I met their gaze, dumbfounded and felt my strength fade, rapidly.

‘Ho-how did they know my name?’ 

_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next, the confrontation.


	5. Something In The Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet and begin divulging the crisis within.
> 
> Chapter title by Nirvana. RIP Kurt Cobain.

_

Towa

_

I saw a large...centipede?...emerge from the light. It almost slammed into me if not for the blast that knocked me backward. Yet, I was not grounded. The men around me, yeah they were fucking clocked out, but me?

Nah. I ain’t going down that easy.

In addition to the gargantuan bug, there was a small girl dressed in red and a tall woman, coiled by the monster. Her hair was a rich black with a familiar fur sash...one I had seen before.

_‘Se-Setsuna?’_

I saw her staring at me, amazement in her eyes. I exclaimed, ecstatic at the reality of the situation. _‘Did she recognize me too?’_

*CRASH*

Our mutual gaze was interrupted by the behemoth before us. It slammed its tail into the stone pathway, shattering it to pieces and assuredly wounding Setsuna.

“AGH! Half-Demon, I demand you give me the Rainbow Pearl!” it bellowed. 

I had to do something! I grasped my katana, Kikujimonji firmly, leading my blow before I struck.

“HIYA!”

*SNAP*

It broke from the guard up instantly, my fate seemed permanently sealed now. The realization dawned on me like a ton of bricks.

“I’m dead, I’m fuckin’ dead. No way.” I slumped, utterly defeated.

“There is no way ou-”

“TOWA-CHAN! TOWA-CHAAAAN! Don’t you dare give up, Towa-Chan!” I heard Mei’s cries from afar. Her resilience coarsed heavy through the air.

_‘I will NEVER forgive you! You can’t die like this!’_

This time it was not Mei, it was…Setsuna?! But it was only in my mind, for I heard no residual echo.

_‘You are more powerful than all of us! You hold yourself back yet fully unleashed. You would annihilate ALL! Embrace your demon.’_

“Rip and Tear, until it is Done.”

_

That did it. Wherever this apparition was, I now had an aura of evil, permeating my veins, the fangs below released from their bondage.

A dark storm took over and longed for the permission to wreak havoc.

And I obliged.

The beam coming forth from my pommel, now encapsulating pure raw energy.

*BRRRGGGAHHAHGHGBRAGHHH*

It blew forward violently, decimating everything before me in a flash.

And I, just as quickly, came back to Gaia, ever winded from the ordeal.

But still, I stood tall.

_

Setsuna

_

This beautiful person just blistered into a being of ethereal light, an angel of death. And then ceased, as if reforming into their human form. And I was mesmerized.

The power enveloped me, dissolving the bonds that hindered my movements. I was freed yet my state of being still listed, steeped by endless time.

I laid iced over, stretched and speechless.

_

Moroha

_

“The Hell?”

That chick just ended that bitch! I feel kinda bad for it too…

Ah, well! Easy pickings! Gotta be some remains in the fray! No way she destroyed all of it...I think.

I hurried over to ground zero, watching as the dust of the explosion cleared.

But, I saw nothing. There was not even a hair left!

“Urrrrgh! You crazy bitch! You obliterated everything here! Now how am I supposed to sell this?!”

_

Setsuna

_

As the debris settled, I stood up. That magnificent girl stared straight into my eyes making my knees shake. I just...couldn’t seem to stay, sane, in their presence.

“Setsuna…” she said, as if my name was meant to be on her tongue. I countered, still though, my gaze upon her felt more and more intense as time passed between us.

“I don’t know you. How do you know my name?”

I gripped Kanemitsu, so conveniently beside my previously restrained form. 

I saw her change from elated to confused but not frightened by me at all yet certainly worried...for me?

“Setsuna, please. It has been long, but I can not possibly believe you could have forgotten me.” She spoke with confidence, as if what she said she knew to be true.

No matter her beauty, I must crash her delusions. Steeling myself against her wondrous form, I declared.  
“I have never once met someone with your (illustrious) features or (heavenly) description. Step back now or I will be forced to defend myself.”

She verged on the edge of crying, tears threatening to pour from her eyes. That cold exterior of mine faltered slightly, my inner empathy wishing to hear her out.

 _‘Ah, my Setsuna, how could a woman like her who moves, speaks, and acts so earnestly possibly be a foe to you?’_ My shadow, again, biting at my heels.

 _‘You saw that blast. Had it been aimed at me, I’d have disintegrated with that beast,’_ I reasoned.

_‘Ah, but that’s just it. She didn’t. She cares for you. You being unaware of her reasoning does not negate the fact she has some.’_

_‘Yet, this environment we find ourselves in is so foreign; who are you to question the validity of my concerns?!’_

_‘Again...as I told you, I AM YOU and therefore, all ideas you have including “mine”, are well, YOURS!’_

I was tired of this. My mind’s battle with myself had gone on too long. At first it happened as Lady Sango awakened my latent feelings. Then this Moroha had agitated me again, eliciting this inner reaction. And now, there is this elegant woman claiming she has known me when I, who I have long assumed to be sound of mind, doubt myself ever knowing her. I seemed less and less sane. 

_‘Ugh...I can’t understand! Why?! Why do you torment me, ME?!’_

_‘Would you like me to show you?’_

_‘Wha?’_

_‘Would you, like me, to show you?’_

I was incredulous, I had no idea how to react. So I acquiesced. 

_‘Fine. What do you intend to-’_

_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next, the void.


	6. Classic Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The void is seen for the first time.
> 
> Classic Girl by Jane's Addiction.

_

Towa

_

Setsuna did not answer me now, as if a strong trance overtook her.

“Setsuna-chan! I’m your sister! Do you not recall our frolicking days before, the fields of posies tickling our feet? Do you? Do you not remember the forests we trounced through?! The cold wind nipping at our feet?”

I tried harder, approaching her stilled body.

“Think back to the long nights bereft of any comfort but each other. The quiet evenings, aloft in our arms entangled. Do you remember? Do you, please?!”

Nothing seemed to faze her black stare. I desperately embraced her, feeling the skin of her arms cold to the touch. I pressed hard into her bosom.

“Setsuna, please. Come back. Berate me if you like. Tell me of my folly, leaving you for dead in that fateful forest fire. I can not truly atone for such an act. Least not until I hear from you again. The real you. These last years of ours may have been lost, forever but…

WE CAN REKINDLE THE FLAME UNLIT AGAIN!”

Now, fully upset, I cried rivers upon her breast, feeling the rivulets do nothing to wake her from her catharsis.

“Oh, Shetshuna...how can I shave you? How can I...ohhhhhhhh…”

I muffled my cries in her garb, taking my only solace in her welcoming appearance. 

Still only shell, no soul.

_

Setsuna

_

“Where...am I?”

I emerged upon an island, an unorthodox, opaque surface of the water shimmering like a rainbow. No other land mass showed and it seemed the horizon went on for ages. I looked around and felt an absence of clothing, looking down seeing I was bare as my the day of my birth. While company would cause me to blush, I saw no other. 

“Hmmph, I’m naked. I don’t remember undressing.”

A faint dripping sound echoed in the distance.

“Ah, you are so unagreeable in the real world, I felt bringing you here would be much easier.”

I turned in response but now my mind could not comprehend what I was looking at.

“Huh? Who are-,” I stayed my next sentence.

My spitting image, yet it did not mirror my movements. She was me, right down to every detail. I looked sooo…

“Lovely? Well I suppose my inner vanity must be honest here. I’m glad you love me, yourself. I was beginning to think you would never understand the feelings you have deep, buried within.”

So, this was the voice speaking through me. I never thought speaking to myself would be so literal.

“Confused? It’s just as well. Though, I feel explaining too early would be too troublesome and...it would ruin the fun as well,” she snickered gleefully with...lust in her eyes? 

(You there as well, you don’t need to know yet either. Heehee.)

“You only need to know this right now.”

“What are you talking about? And why do you look like me? Where are we? And whaat...I don’t even, what?” I stammered.

“Now, now little lamb. Don’t be hasty." she said.

“Trust this girl before you. She will unlock these visions you have. You will find all your answers in her.” She showed images of the mysterious white haired woman to me, ones I had not seen before.

I rose redder and redder, constantly elevating in my arousal, however much I wished to suppress it.

Ones of her undressing in her room? Ones of her...putting some sort of stick in her mouth in a porcelain room? Ones of her writing without a brush...another strange stick. Ones of her punching a strange bag? Ones of her with another strange smaller girl, laughing? Ones of her with her...family?

Ones of...ME with HER?! Cuddling together? Playing together? Eating together? And...KISSING TOGETHER?! And not only that, WE were so...intimate. And then there was one...I had to avert my eyes. No more.

_‘No, these were forgeries. Fabrications of my mind.’_

“Not at all. These are all real.” she said frankly.

“WHAT IS THIS TREACHERY?! ANSWER ME!” I yelled.

My twin laughed at my question, which only seemed to garner my ire.

I assumed a combat stance, ready to retaliate for all the deceptions she caused me.

“Hmm? You would fight yourself? And naked no less? For shame, Setsuna,” she sneered at me.

“Clothes do not matter in matters of battle. I have fought naked before. I will defeat you and then force the information I want out of you!”

“Mmmm, *SIGH* If that is what you wish.”

_

Towa

_

I felt her jolt. 

“Setsuna-chan? Have you-”

She lunged forward, smacking me away from her. She did not open her eyes though.

“Set...su...na? What’s-”

She struck at me with the internet to maim.

“SETSUNA?!”

I dodged as well as I could, stepping further and further back jumping up to the upper stone wall. She was so fast I felt I could barely keep up! Relentless, constantly trying to hit my upper section.

_‘Hmm, no matter the circumstance, she won’t resort to a cheap shot.’_

I couldn’t keep this up much longer.

_

Setsuna

_

“GET BACK HERE!”

The twin easily evaded me, wearing away from my strikes.

“Ah, Setsuna, why do you resist me? Will you not lay with me so that I may sooth your raging heart?”

“LAY WITH YOU?! HOW COULD ONE WEARING MY FACE SAY SOMETHING SO...VILE?!” I screamed, feeling a damage to my throat. 

“Ah, but you do not deny to me the feelings you have for her. All those images I showed you, your libido only increased. Ah, Setsuna-chan, you can not lie to me, yourself.”

She stepped forward, easily brushing off my next blow, with a devilish smile adorning her face.

“Those so-called “uncouth” fantasies you wonder about. I mean, it is no wonder to me of course,” she licked her lips at this, or rather I guess, “I” did.

Suddenly, I felt a push, one so gentle as to be completely unnoticed by most. But not me. It felt so powerful.

I fell backward into the sea of brilliant limbo, not a drop of its surface rising in tandem. And she laid atop me now. I was powerless to stop her. I regretfully gave in. 

“Ah, there there, Setsuna. You need not think these thoughts avail you,” she caressed my hair, so soft and gentle.

“It is true that it is much too early to act upon them, yes, but to deny them entirely? You only wound yourself in that action.”

At that, I was stunned and she laid upon me and granted me a kiss. Not chaste, yet not erotic. And then, a...butterfly.

Darkness took me after.

And when I came to, I was home.

_

Towa

_

“Setsuna?! Please cease your onslaught! I’m not trying to hurt you, I’m trying to help you!” 

She kept near me, nearly backing me into the wall beside the stone steps. Her eyes completely closed yet such pinpoint accuracy. 

_‘I have to end this!’_

Finally, I saw an opening. I pushed hard on her midsection and in that exact moment I sent her flying back, into a bush below.

“Finally! Now maybe I can talk some sense into her! Oh, I hope I didn’t hurt her too hard.” I ran to help her out of the shrubbery.

I saw the admittedly previously ignored, red-cloaked girl hurry over to us. Oh, she looked quite adorable scurrying about. I shook my head violently, focusing on the task at hand.

“I can’t help but be witness to this lover’s quarrel. You two are really something! Strong and cute to boot!” she exclaimed happily, teasing all the same. 

“WHAT?! Lover’s...quarrel?!” I adamantly denied.

I helped Setsuna, still unconscious, out of the bush. 

“No, no, no. You misinterpret, uhhh…”

“Moroha, the Demon Hunter!” she flashed her fangs at me proudly.

“Uhuuhuh...Moroha, this is my sister. I haven’t seen her in years so I understand if it seems odd-”

“Sister, huh. Well, you guys got somethin’ goin’ on cause I ain’t never seen sisters look at each other like that. You sure?”

“YES! I’m sure!” I screamed, exasperated. 

_‘I couldn’t think of Setsuna like that. No, never. Least-’_

Still, my cheeks were tinged pink while watching Setsuna’s quiet form. She did not snore or even seem asleep but her rest still looked peaceful. I felt at ease, finally. 

_

We brought her upstairs. She awoke within the day though she spoke nothing to any of us. Again, I felt this icy cold wash over me.

A couple of days healed some of our wounds, but not all.

I had seen that Moroha had killed some other demon who also came through the portal, though this one was very scrawny and barely even worth mentioning. Everyone was quite confused around what had happened but they had all been briefed afterwards so it seemed all was well for now. They had welcomed Setsuna and Moroha with open arms. And the ruffians...well we turned them to the authorities. 

Mei was especially happy to see more “Onee-sans”. She tugged at Setsuna to cradle her and Moroha to play with her. The latter happily obliged but Setsuna...she was too distant, still.

She would not eat with us. She never looks at me. And worst of all, I never saw her sleep. We all shared the same room too!

_

“Hmm. Towa-chan, I think...it’s something called the dream butterfly.”

Moroha laid down against my barbells. That same sure slyness seething about her.

“Dream...Butterfly?” I asked.

“Yes, as its name suggests it stops the individual from dreaming entirely. A curse, one so foul I can’t even begin to understand how it really works,” she explained. 

“Really? My poor Setsuna.” I looked at her, “resting” above the top bunk. Her eyes closed yet never reaching cool slumber. 

_ ‘Did I, cause this?’ _

“You see when you say stuff like that, I can’t help but think I’ll see you two somewhere, courting each other in front of some temple.”

“I told you it’s not like THAT!”

“Or, since your world is much more fascinating, you two could do that share the milkshake-thing I saw that one couple did yesterday. You know the one, those weird hollow sticks you drink it out of.”

“No, no THAT’S NOT WHAT WE DO.”

“Sure, sure whatever. Hey, what do you think, Setsuna-chan? Don’t you want to jump Towa-chan somet-”

“ENOUGH!” I yelled at her, grabbing at her mouth.

If only I could’ve seen above, to see Setsuna-chan wiggling a bit at those remarks.

_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We finally get back to the main plot. This story will divulge somewhat from their adventures but will mostly follow the same story. Just, hornier.


	7. Your Saviour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Towa and Setsuna begin interacting. In a more "intimate" way.  
> Sorry, Moroha will get more screen time soon.
> 
> Your Saviour by Temple of a Dog. RIP Chris Cornell.

Towa

_

We spent much of the last week bonding, least I did with Moroha. Setsuna was still angry but at least she played violin for Mei. It was nice seeing my sister bond once more with her “soul” sisters.

The next few weeks were times of wonder for me. To be reunited with my baby sister after so long...course, she wasn’t a baby anymore.

She was a gorgeous, mysterious figure, shrouded in questions I had yet to ask the answers of. It reminded me of my early years, seeing the deadly assassins of old here, the ones I wished to see in reality. Always enamored by the lengths my vicarious sisterhood would go. Our lady, Snowblood. The Jidaigeki women of the Chanbara. Their cold iron gazes stare down their inferior male competitors. The cold steel they wield effortlessly slaying their opposition. 

_‘True fuckin’ role models, them.’_

Ya know, it has been well known now that during the Mongol invasion of Tsushima, the females, long thought to be unfit for war, became samurais, just as capable (if not more so) as their male counterparts. And infinitely more versatile as well. Not bogged down by the vices that of which plague the minds of mortal men. A powerful force to be reckoned with. A force of undying love, the kind Eru Iluvatar would praise melodies of great beauty with. 

A song only the fairer sex could sing.

The fairest which now I’m again obsessed.

_‘Dear...Setsuna. How far removed must our kinship be for us to be together? To now strike me so harshly as the courtly Englishwoman from afar?'_

“You learn so slow, old radiant beauty; I'll curve my flight.”

Like Anne Lister to wondrous Walker or Emily Dickinson to sweet Gilbert, I pine deeply. In the modern day actions I loathe and you have yet to even ascertain, I’ll guide you. 

My sweet. And then, it dawns again.

_

_‘I’m such a fuckin’ creep. To truly think such fucked up things about my twin sis. Shameful. In the untapped ocean of fuckin’ beautys coming throughout my life, I stay smitten with my blood.’_

Same visage. Same features from the same origin. Hell, even the same attitude, really. My flesh and blood, I yearn for thee in a most unorthodox way, and normalcy cries out in defiance.

“I won’t let it take her from me.”

_

I thought to yesterday’s musings, the images softly appearing in my mind. So vivid, I could readily recall its occurrence clearer than any other:

_She sat across from me. Sipping the milkshake cautiously, fully aware of her own insecurities in her non-native land. And yet, her face adorned the pinkest pastel, from which I began innocently salivating, being careful to purse my lips to not seem so sloppy. She looked at me as I swiftly shut my mouth completely, attempting to write off such behavior as a simple need for oral satiation._

_I hoped my gesture was not too obvious._

_Not perturbed yet still confused, she offered the beverage to share among us. Still beet red and turned away, she gruffly shoved it to me, almost begrudging her decision._

_A cute gesture, nonetheless._

_I giddily accepted, taking my straw and placing it on the other side of the shake. Yet, I realized the chance I had. Turning the shake around, to touch my lips to her straw I thought simply, ‘An indirect kiss…’ I perked up._

_It was now Setsuna understood my intentions, as she could not stop blushing at the thought of any continuation. I decided against it, ‘I want us to share in this special moment.’_

_A cherry in the middle nestled between the plastic tubes, surrounded by the saccharine foam, caressing all sides of the glass, a delicate chocolate drizzle carefully covering only the finest surface of the bubbled liquid._

_A Heavenly drink for one such as us._

_And then, she placed her lips upon the straw and I mine, taking in the drink as if it were the last breath of air on Earth, our eyes met after such sensuous thoughts permeated our minds._

_I took a dab of cream from the top with my finger and offered it to her mouth. She almost backed out but I assured her to trust me. In response, she too took a dab to offer to mine. My glee was immeasurable._

_We melded to one. Bound to each other. Mitosis._

_All the while, my senses recalled a faint sound. Ever overwhelmed, I tried desperately to ignore it yet my efforts were for naught. It grew louder and louder._

_‘What is that damnable noise, trying to fuck up our mutual moment?!’_

_It grew louder and louder, and then…_

“TOWA-CHAN!”

_

Setsuna

_

I was first to say I wasn’t accustomed to such an...odd gathering for dining.

The old tea houses on the busy streets of Kyoto were the only sensible reference I had to this very “extravagant” location. However, when I showed my awe at this...Towa-san and the scrappy outlaw, Moroha-san seemed unimpressed. 

_‘What, am I the only one?’_

I thought of how I became accustomed to their company over the past weeks. How Moroha was completely without shame in all situations yet still a loyal woman.

She was as mischievous as can be and I knew not to take a bath after her. Bathing at the Higurashi household was at least...comforting, most of the time.

_

_When I laid down, letting the suds engross me, I thought of my newest anomaly, this white haired half-demon “twin sister” who seems to be a rather...sexual endeavor for my other self. This self, who has appeared recently more and more; I can’t reconcile this. I sunk deeper into the foam._

_‘Ah, Setsuna, you kid yourself. As I am you, would it not be US who are interested in Towa?’_

_She came back. She comes by whenever she wants. I looked over to the sink and there she was again. Nakedness was at least appropriate this time._

_“Why do you come here? Can you not just leave me be?” I asked as politely as possible, still ire came to me._

_She turned to me, hands still on both sides of the sink._

_“Ah Setsuna, you are more vulnerable than ever right now. Would you not lay with me so that we could speak about Towa-chan?”_

_At that, she approached the tub and slipped inside, not at all heeding my protests._

_“Oh Setsuna, quit your whining. I am you, ya know so really all your doing in real life is sitting down and masturbating. You were about to without me anyway,” she said, now fully submerged behind me._

_I writhed red with embarrassment, trying to free my arms from her grasp yet to no avail._

_“Ah Setsuna, relax. Can we talk? I think we could get some real work done here. Don’t shoo me away so willingly; you may not like the results.”_

_‘Was that a warning? Was there more to her than I knew?’_

_“That’s for you to find out for yourself,” she answered._

_This was such an invasion of my privacy but my curiosity took me._

_“What do you want to tell me?” I asked, relenting._

_“...What is Towa-chan to you?” she answered._

_“I don’t know. She’s my sister, my TWIN sister at that and I literally cannot recall her existence. Yet, you...and I, say she is...attractive to us as well. I ask you though, as me..._

_That two women shall love, I feel that is my, our, preference._

_That two women should marry, I believe such a union is fine as a man and a woman._

_But be with my blood relative? Should we not defy those insidious thoughts?_

_We should not condone that.”_

_“...Is she really your sister, if you cannot remember her? Is she not so far removed from you that you may just disregard a trivial matter such as that?” at that I felt her arm come down to my crotch, stroking me slowly under the water._

_‘Way to make it hard to concentrate. Ugh.’_

_“Just focus on the question, Setsuna,” she said._

_“...I cannot commit incest. I just- I can’t do that to her. Even if it would be mutual.”_

_“And what of Moroha-chan?” she teased me endlessly._

_“She...is cute but I don’t feel the same as I do with Towa-san.”_

_“So Towa-chan is still your one and onl-”_

_“NO! I just-I just mean Moroha-san is not romantically attractive to me, yet.”_

_“So you could...to Moroha?” her ministrations increased and I was quite close to orgasm._

_“...Maybe. Not that, of course.”_

_“Really? You were certainly wanting when she teased you with that kiss,” she moved slowly up my lips, up and down, up and down._

_Yes, but that’s all it was. I don’t want to be a joke lover. I want...a real companion. Someone who...understands me. Someone...”_

_“Like Towaaaaaaa-chan?” she inserted her finger in me and I went instantly._

_“YEEES!” I screamed._

_“Setsuna-chan? Are you okay? Do you need assistance?” I heard Mei’s voice from the door and the sudden realization dissipated my apparition instantly._

_‘Oh, the fact I orgasmed in another person’s household so blatantly. For shame, Setsuna.’_

_

We walked into the establishment, Towa-san ever nonchalant and Moroha-san ever sly. We sat on these seats by the enormous windows.

“Come! We’ll sit here! I’m a regular round these times, so they’ll get us ordered in no time!” Towa-san belted out to me.

The small tyke took her spot next to me, rubbing her head on my arm. She grasped in suddenly, smirking all the while.

“Oh Setsu- you like sitting with me? Or would you rather sit by Towaaa-chan?”

Moroha giggled at her boldness and pushed her chest into my lower arm, still trying to make up for her size gap with the natural fluffy atmosphere she exudes.

I kept my eyes on Towa-san though, as she read the large...folded sign in front of her. I heard Moroha chuckling softly next to me.

“Ohohoho Setsuna, Setsuna. I figured as much. To completely disregard your aforementioned decorum and let lust take you so openly towards your own twin sister. How shameless you are,” she said, at least having the good decency to whisper the latter part to me alone.

I was still raring to tear her throat out though.

_

Now seated and ordered, I felt the seat’s composition for the first time. The “booth”, as Towa-san referred to it, was made of a hard, peculiar substance on its sides and then the quality of the leather felt amazing on my bottom. I was once again confused why I was the only one visibly amazed by the advancements in technology here.

Towa-san had said before, this was a local “café”, where any resident, no matter their class or rank could enter, welcomed by the servers every time.

“Moshi, Moshi, Ogenkidesuka?”

“Moshi, Moshi, Ogenkide?”

“Moshi, Moshi, Ogen?”

This dialect, while discernibly derivative of mine was very...truncated.

As if the expression and words deigned to me by the great scribes long before my time, were lost.

Evaporated.

I had at once thought we had just evolved. But the cadence, body language, and instruments they employed were all FAR too nondescript. I saw instantly the embrace that had been given…

To the West.

The darkened Western influences. Those savages of the “New World” they spoke of, thinking only of the next plunders they would commit. Their move to colonize, to pillage, to burn. I had heard horror stories by foreign travellers from Asia’s hotbeds of diversity, the evils the West perpetrated. 

Caring nothing for the suffering they caused.

And now…

Such customs were gone. As I walked the streets I saw such a lack of tradition. As if every person was a rebel. The girls wore these revealing skirts and the men wore...whatever they wanted. Patterns animal-like in nature, plastered on their suits. Mismatched colors and an emphasis on the gaudiest designs. And such a lack of care for their hair. Styles I wouldn’t dare think another human would find acceptable.

“Foreign” didn’t even cover it anymore. I felt faint about this.

Though, Towa-san had enlightened me earlier…

_

_She sat me down in her room, she on her cushion and I on the carpet. She held this manuscript, where the world’s written history was conveyed to me._

_An end to our “isolationist” policies and the move to more open trade with the West and Central Asia. She told me of the West’s slow decay of our society’s traditions and how we tried in vain to fight back._

_“Ya see, there were missionaries from the West, Christians wishing to spread the word of Christ to our lands. Our government declared Christianity illegal in response and executed not only the missionaries but our kinsmen too,” she said intent on the accuracy of her information._

_I couldn’ help but smile a little at this. No, not at the deaths of others. But at the extinguishing of that bereft faith. I had long heard of the barbarism committed by their believers. The atrocities committed in the name of “God”. Such evil._

_Death embrace me, Izanagi._

_Life embrace me, Izanami._

_Take me home._

___

_This irked her however. Her morals were entirely different than mine. Though I may try to see the good in some, I am a warrior first. She is still too soft no matter how much she may puff herself up._

_She told me now that many Japanese were Christian and even embraced the West more than the traditions of old. I had to ask._

_“Towa-san, are you Christian as well?”_

_“No, I feel...I do believe in Izanagi but I feel today’s world is so secular comparably. Many have no belief in any God.”_

_I became angry at these musings and slammed my fist on the floor._

_“Why?! Why has the haven we’ve come to know as Heaven of Earth, our Nippon, been so corrupted by the West?! WHY, TOWA-SAN?!” I meant no ill will towards her of course. After all, I barely knew her. But, the culture shock had finally gotten to me._

_“Much that once was, is lost. For none now live, who remember it,” she said._

_“Huh?” I said._

_“It’s a quote from an author, JRR Tolkien._

_During the second World War, a devastation unlike any ever seen had been committed on our homeland. That devastation forced our nation to submit to the wills of the West, our new true governing power,” she explained further._

_I sat only silent now, listening intently._

_“I have long been ridiculed as a punk, a modern day “rebel without a cause”. A loner and trash. But...I’m not! I long for the days without such darkness. The days of Milton and Shakespeare, Julian of Norwich and Margaret Kempe. This...era we live in now, while it may seem like we have progressed in reality we go backward, further and further each day. I remember my days with you, our time together I treasure above all else. And to have to have been so robbed of it for so long,_

_It breaks me. Right. In. Two._

_And now, you can make me whole again.”_

_She embraced me and I felt tears flow from her eyes._

_‘Who was I to doubt one so true?’_

_I may not know where or why these feelings arise but my need to reciprocate hers tooke me._

_And we for the first time to me, had truly seen eye to eye._

_

Moroha

_

“YO! SETUUUUNAAA! Earth to SetSUuuuuNAaaa!!”

*YIPE*

She startled out of her now all too common trances, jumping a bit in her seat.

Oh, how I loved pushing her buttons. Really, both of them. 

The easiest siblings to embarrass, by far!

She gave me a dirty look, one I was all too accustomed to now. And really, it just made her look cuter now. 

I noticed Towa-chan ordering a large drink... of some sort. Rather it was like a thick layer of white with a hazel core to its lower section.

“Uhhh...Towa-chan? What is thaaaat?”

She smiled to me and explained it as if it were the most common sight in the world.

“It’s a milkshake, rather a larger one that we can all share.”

Setsuna looked visibly concerned, her cheeks already tinting.

“Share?” I asked.

“Yes, Moroha-chan, share. We all have a straw which we put inside and then just well, drink it. It’s really simple, innit?”

Setsuna-chan sat there, ever the quiet observer persona she had since donned.

Yet really, we all knew she was more titillated than all of us.

_

Setsuna

_

_“Ah, Setsuna. Again we meet; can’t say I don’t enjoy our meetings though I do wish you prompted me beforehand.”_

_I was me, again. At least, this time I wasn’t nude. Rather than dressed in the nice clothes provided to me by Towa-san, I was back in my original garb._

_Yet my surroundings were not the same as last time._

_I saw the furnishings of my old home, a home I had known for years. A home I thought had long been gone. Its furnishings were lush and tribal and betrayed a look one I had seen many times before._

_“Lord Sesshomaru or rather...Otosan.”_

_“You remember now?” she said, elated at my utterance._

_My words betrayed me as well._

_“What? No I...I-I-I don’t know what I just said,” I stuttered, utterly wrought with confusion._

_“But, you did say it. That shows progress. Tell me, do you know where you are right now?” she asked._

_“I am...I am- I am in...a Lord’s castle. And-”_

_“No, no, no. I mean Right Now, like in reality.”_

_I was thoroughly stumped. To think I had no grasp of what was going on._

_It frightened me to no end._

_“I know it is hard, but in time you will understand,” she said solemnly, then turned and walked away. I ran after her._

_“WAIT?! TELL ME, PLEASE! WHAT ARE THESE VISIONS?! WHAT DO THEY MEAN?! I-I-I can’t deal with this...dis-Disassociation!”_

_I pleaded with her but she had disappeared right before my eyes._

_Again, I was home once more. Muses._

_

Towa

_

“Setsuna?” I was becoming increasingly worried during her “episodes”. She was having them all too often now. 

I saw the cherry at the bottom of the milkshake, the thing guzzled down in minutes by Moroha. ‘The cheeky tart.’ But then a thought came to me, and I reached into the glass to grab the cherry.

Setsuna’s mouth was a bit agape, eyes half open, but still in her dreamless sleep. 

I saw my chance.

“Ooopen wide, Setsuna-chaaaan…” I said babyish, slowly placing the ripe fruit in her mouth.

As it touched her tongue I could feel her listing, not enough to arouse her (in more ways than one) but just enough to make the roof of her mouth give way.

And now I was in ecstasy. To see her half-lidded, with half off this cherry delicately held in her mouth, I couldn’t contain myself.

I squeed at the look she unconsciously gave me, so enthralled by this sight I was privy to.

And then she stirred. I heard a...violin, a sound growing in intensity but still soft in nature. A major tune, one eliciting joyful emotion and bliss, like what I felt now.

She stirred again. And again, growing restless.

But I was not daunted and pushed forward, quite literally sending the cherry past her lips and into her mouth. And like that her gag reflexes took over and she swallowed it.

Her eyes shot open and she stared straight at me, my finger still in her mouth. I only giggled at her reaction and she recoiled back instantly.

Moroha, who had been watching the whole affair enraptured, burst out laughing, falling out of her seat completely. 

Setsuna, now livid but red as the cherry that just graced her lips just sat back, panting.

“Well, that woke you up, sweetie.”

_ 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured a long one was warranted since I had a lot of fun implementing Setsuna's main story here and it's been a while.
> 
> We'll be getting back to Edo soon but I wanted to do more deep ddives into Setsuna's DID.
> 
> Till next time.


	8. Come As You Are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting ready to leave, Setsuna is moved to a point to which she feels there will be no return. Or is this just the beginning?
> 
> Nirvana. RIP Kurt Cobain.

_

Towa

_

The adorable, pouting face in my view made my eyes heavy. Here she was, dressed in her traditional “demon hunting” garb and Moroha…well she never wore anything else. Her attachment to that tattered rag must be high, for I wouldn’t be caught fuckin’ dead with that on.

And oh the smell, as well. Took us the whole month to clean it. I guarantee, our water bill is gonna be through the roof. 

Setsuna on the other hand. Oooooh, sweet Setsuna. She shined in all her luscious glory; outfits that beautifully adorned her flawless body. A lovely dress during her violin rehearsals with Mei. A cute-as-a-button casual dress when we went on outings. And our one visit to a hotel, that swimsuit. Ah. I couldn’t look away. 

Yet, I felt a warning in my heart.

She looked never comfortable in any of these clothes and honestly, who would blame her? She does not remember her time here and for that matter her long time away may yet make her heart go yonder rather than grow fonder.

I felt somewhat responsible for her discomfort. To have come out to her so fierce and then have her freeze up, she must be wary of me now. 

_‘But I couldn’t help it! Her face beckoned me so!’_

_

Setsuna

_

I couldn’t believe it. I had been fed during my vision. The red intrusion permeated my lips, wishing to be one with me. And not only that, I felt flesh...of a finger push softly into my mouth. And it belonged…

_‘Ah, to the object of our affection.’_

_'SHUUUUT UUUP!'_ I screamed in my mind.

I pushed back with the fruit in my mouth, having no choice but to swallow it. She smiled at me warmly, as if she was not ashamed of the boundary she crossed.

_‘Ah, well why should she be? In fact, does this not prove her reciprocation?’_

_‘THIS PROVES NOTHING!’_

I opened my mouth to speak but then I noticed my heaving which at first been deafened now came back to me with an equally deafened screech.

*WRIII*

“No, No, NO! Wrong note again! Setsuna-Onee, I’ll never get this right!”

I heard small stamps on the floor, the sound of a child’s tantrum. I looked to my side to see Moroha, comforting Mei, patting her reassuringly.

“Oh, it’s ok Mei-chan. It’s cool you came to serenade your big sis’ anyway. Setsu, you mind?”

I saw Moroha smile at me slyly and though I wished to question Towa about her actions just now, I knew continuing our lesson scheduled later would probably be best. As politely as I could, I excused myself, moving by Moroha and leaving with Mei. I didn’t look back.

_

Moroha

_

Oh dear Kami, that was HOOOOOT.

_

_How I’ve seen the in-denial, step-love bloom these past weeks, I feel like I’m a bit left out. “Two mature women, lost to each other since childhood. It’s so sappy. Hahahaha!”_

_I sat back on Towa-chan’s balcony, gazing to Kami’s stars. The serpent traced the sky and the wolves tore the sphere asunder. I saw the battles of Lords and Lordesses, forever entwined in their never-ending wars._

_Just then, I heard a knock on her door._

_‘So my peaceful ponderings have ended for now, oh well.’_

_“Towa-chan! Are you in there? Dinner’s ready!”_

_Lady Higurashi? Hmmm…_

_The door knob turned and she stepped inside._

_“Towa-cha- Moroha-chan? Hello. Do you know where Towa-chan went?”_

_I looked back and smiled._

_“They went out together for a late night outing, Setsu and her.”_

_“And left you here? Oh, how awful of them,” she approached me._

_I appreciated her concern, however unfounded it was._

_“S’okay. I give em’ their space, after all.”_

_She approached me and sat down beside me._

_“Hmmm, I’ll never understand what’s going on in that girl’s head. She’s ready for college at this point and could easily usual her opponents for prestigious academies...yet, she rebels. Never applies herself academically. I swear I can’t understand the words she says. But then it’s all out the window. A complete farce if you ask me.”_

_She turned to me with a troubled smile, her legs hugged into her chest._

_“Ya think? I mean, dunno really know, ya know...but I feel that for the short time I’ve met her, she’s one of the most steadfast persons I’ve ever met. Stubborn to the core.”_

_She laughed at this sentiment I made._

_“Oh Yes! You nailed it!”_

_She turned towards the Heaven’s lights above._

_“So you were stargazing? I bet the skies of old must be ten times as beautiful.”_

_“Hmm...not really. Kami’s domain above has not changed much since its inception.”_

_She seemed pleased by the conversation as evidenced by the slight tinting of her cheeks._

_“True. I’m sure it must be quite a shock to you to see so many...secular men and women in this age.”_

_“Ha!” I boasted._

_“Not at all! Even in my time, there are many who deny the existence of her Grace._

_That is their choice to make, not mine._

_“Our Nippon is Heaven on Earth all the same. And what many will come to know as the “Great Age” …well, I’m here to tell you, it ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Honestly, I much enjoy this time more. Course, there’s no demons to slay which makes this a bit boring but when I return, I’ll be sure to share what I’ve learned here.”_

_“Hehe. I’m sure you shall.”_

_She suddenly jumped, ‘Perhaps she forgot something?’_

_“Oh goodness! How could I forget? Come, Moroha-chan. The food is most definitely getting cold now.”_

_I nodded warmly and stood with her, heading for downstairs._

_

Towa

_

“Are you really taking all that with you, back?” Moroha just snickered.

I was fixated on the unwieldy mound of random assortments stuffed into her impossibly huge backpack.

Setsuna looked equally baffled but she still glanced hesitantly at me, no doubt due to our “conversation” the other night. We had gone to that café as well but our return to it after our talk last night probably solidified her desire to leave here.

_

Setsuna

_

Again, we came to this “café” after her heartfelt speech to me, and I, moved by her genuine movements could not due refuse her. It was late now though and I felt uneasy returning to the place where our most “intimate” interaction yet had taken place.

“T-Towa. Could we...dine somewhere else?” I said, more nervous than I was known for.

She looked back to me, sparkles in her eyes.

“Setsuna-chan, it’s okay. This place is hardly ever busy at night. We’ll be in complete privacy here. Nothing like the other day!”

Her reassurance did little to quell my shaking but did light a fire in the depths of my heart. And then she came back.

_‘Ah, alone. The twin wishes to court her sibling now. Had I known Towa-chan was so daring, I’d have taken you over much earlier.'_

_‘Don’t. You. Dare.’_

_‘Oooooh . Scary. Ah well, you better go with her then. She’ll start wondering why you just space out in front of her.’_

*SLAP*

I felt a slight sting on my cheek. Had she...slapped me?

“C’mon, Setsunaaaa! You gotta stop these...weird freeze ups! Every time I try to talk to you, you, you check out halfway through! Am I…”

She had a single tear in her eye.

“Am I-I...that hard to speak to?’

I, awakened from my stupor, looked at her with guilt in my chest. I had to fix this.

“No...not-not at all. Let’s go in. I feel I need to tell you something.”

_

Towa

_

She spoke but I didn’t hear her words. Her explanation had caused me to disassociate as well. “Setsuna...you can’t dream? And your memories are lost to you? Do...you remember me...at all?”

She stopped and looked outside the window, forlorn with a slight whimper about her. The only other occupied booth was ten meters away, so we were, for all intents and purposes, alone. The waitresses had left us be possibly sensing the tension we emanated. Silently, she nodded.

“The...dreams, they’ve been gone for as long as I can remember. Instead, I enter this place, where another me, but not me, speaks and I...argue with her.”

I listened to her intently now, freed from the surprise that previously gripped me.

“She, or rather I, is more...let’s say “honest” than me.”

“Honest?” I questioned, beginning to queue in on the more specific meaning of that statement. She fidgeted in her space, staring straight at me.

“Towa...you have been...nothing but straight to the point with me. And I should only...return the favor.”

“What, do you mean?”

“Please...help me. I don’t know how to deal with these new emotions surfacing. I feel, worked over as if I would go through the rest of my time here automatically. I can’t understand these visions I have. Please, please. I don’t know what to do. When I speak to my loved ones back home, they see me as this hopeless romantic, forever in love with a man I honestly hardly know! And not only that, my other self is…”

“Is?”

“Is...in love with you. She is. And I know how that must feel coming from a sister you haven’t seen for years and one who doesn’t even know you’re her sister. I am sure, even in this liberal age, no one tolerates such a taboo. I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I have to say this to my only sibling. You must be disgusted. You..must hate me.”

*sniff, sniff*

Seeing her break down like this, I couldn’t let it go on anymore.

_‘She wants me, I’ll give her me.’_

_

I lunged across the table, my hand on her chin, and placing my lips on mine. To say she was shocked would be the grossest of understatements. We separated, which now left her stone.

“I could never hate you. You want help? You want to get your memories back? Then let’s, together.”

I could see her cry once more but this time, they were tears of joy.

_

Looking at the incantations said and the enveloping light that would send us forward, I now came to the realization that our time here may well be permanent.

_‘I could die here. Slayed and devoured or worse, made to kill the ones I love. And my life here would never know. Gone from existence, Towa Higurashi, no more.’_

Such a morbid thought brought a quiver to my knees. And then I felt a touch.

“Towa-chan. It’s okay. We will help you adapt to the land again. So stick with us.”

Moroha, grasped my blazer softly, wanting to dissipate the fears that plagued me.

_‘Ah...who am I kidding? I got no fuckin’ time to die. I must aid Setsuna regain her memories and find her dreams once more. The Dream Butterfly. For my love, I will do anything.’_

_

Towa, Setsuna, Moroha

_

I stepped forward into the white abyss, exploding from the sacred tree.

_‘I am home, again.’_

_

Moroha

_

I ran forward, the familiar fields of green again graced my eyes with unending gratitude.

“YIPPEE! We’re back! We are back!”

I cavorted about, in love with the nature I lost for far too long. For all the beauty that other age had it’s cold, steel forests were too painful to see.

My return was in joy.

“Hey! If you’re quite finished, I would very much like to head back to Lady Kaede’s. She must be worried sick about me.”

Setsuna had much more vulnerable emotion than when I had fought with her.

I was reprimanded, however.

Reluctantly, I walked back, my large sack hefting more heavily on my back than I first thought. ‘Odd, I thought I’d packed this pretty tight.”

Suddenly, I felt a rustling inside.

_‘A demon, maybe?’_

I set the sack down carefully and yelled to Setsu and Towa-chan.

“Hey! There’s something in my sack!”

I unsheathed my Kurikaramaru, ready to strike. Setsu joined me and Towa summoned her beam saber. I smiled devilishly at the bag.

“Come out demon and be my first quarry back.”

It rustled and rustled until...huuuuuuh?

_

Mei

_

All I saw was blinding light and then...a magnificent sky, so brilliant I had not seen anything like it ever. I somersaulted outside and rolled forward into the grass, looking straight and grimacing.

...My immediate problem.

“Hi...Onee-sans.”

_


	9. Them Bones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A "foe" of immeasurable strength meets our intrepid trio. And a mystery yet unsolved will rise to the occasion.
> 
> Them Bones by Alice in Chains; RIP Layne Staley.

_

Towa

_

“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!”

“Onee-san, please don’t yell so loud. You’ll damage your vocal chords.”

I didn’t know what to say. Mei, my kid sister was in the middle of the warring states era with no way of defending herself and worse, how the fuck are we supposed to get her back? 

I was livid.

I felt Setsuna come behind and put her hand on my shoulder, caring in her gesture.

“Towa, we’ll figure this out. We can return in time but for now we must leave this place.”

At that moment, I felt a pull from the tree in the middle of the field, violently sweeping us all off our feet and into the air, swallowed by the power it exuded. It ate us whole, plunging all three into it’s vast knotted form.

All, except for Mei.

_

Setsuna

_

A bit of processing time was needed. 

Well that and shutting my exasperated sister up. I looked around the dimly lit, rooted area to see a curious light most horridly interrupted by Towa’s wailing. She was seething, mostly at herself to be sure, but she was all the same, NOT HELPING THE SITUATION RIGHT NOW!

“TOWA! FOR THE LOVE OF KAMI, SHUT UP!”

That got her attention. She swiveled to me, still explosive.

“Setsuna, what the fuck?! How could I be so fucking irresponsible?!” she screamed at me.

“Calm down! We have bigger things to-“

“HEY! BOTH OF YOU SHUT YOUR TWATS!”

Only Moroha could cut in with a vulgarity of that caliber. I turned, disgusted by her lack of tact as usual.

“Anyway, what the fuck is that, you reckon?”

She pointed to the center of the dimly lit “room” we were now trapped in. The violence of the light’s movement had been so hazy; my eyes had trouble comprehending my surroundings.

“Hey! It’s moving!” Moroha cut into my thoughts. 

“I can see that,” I replied, annoyed at how she pointed out the obvious.

I readied myself for battle when I saw the light transform, shimmering into shape.

The shape sprouted limbs and took the format of a young woman. She was resplendent with beauteous black hair and priestesses robes adorning her. “Beautiful…”

**TING**

A brilliant shine blinded me for only a second and she instantly appeared directly in front of me.

“Whaaa?” I was startled by the proximity and the speed at which she came to me. The force knocked my Naginata straight out of my hand, completely disarming me.

I tried to dodge her oncoming blow but it wracked my torso hard, sending me flying into the wall.

“SETSUNAAA!” I heard Towa scream in horror as she saw me prostrate against the impact.

“Kami, I can’t-“ I felt the godly speed again, appear before me and slam my body into the wall again. It was faster than a blink of an eye and the pain I felt didn’t even register. 

I was broken.

The spirit was beyond me. 

“I can’t possibly fight this.”

_ “Ah, Setsuna let me take over.” _

I felt “her” again, my other me. But this time much more directly. Instead of manifesting herself visually she almost felt…within me now. 

As if I was her and she was me.

_ ‘What is thi-‘ _

_ “Ah, just for once, trust me, my love.” _

...Fine. I have no other choice.

_

Kuro

_

My turn.

She lunged at me but I swiftly countered. Her vambraces proved far more effective in my hands than in hers. Undaunted, she reared up again and I blocked her all the same.

“HA! WASN’T EXPECTING ME TO FIGHT BACK, HUH? BITCH, I am a whole ‘nother ball game from her!”

The spirit looked somewhat perturbed but I felt no real malice from her. 

She moved for my throat next and I caught her arm, intending to snap it right there. My speed was excellent and grip terrifyingly effective.

“Hehe, gonna crack a smile on me now, hey cunt? Now that I got your FUCKING arm?! You ain’t got nothin’ on this fuck!”

At that, I slammed her into the root below, smashing her skull in the process. I gloated over her, triumphant.

“Ohoho, you poor thing. You didn’t think a bitch like “moi” could best you so easily? Honestly, judging by those dagger fast reflexes you showed my counterpart I didn’t think you’d be such a fucking pushover!”

I looked over at that Towa girl, smizing at her dumbfounded look.

“Sets-Setsuna…?” she said, shaking a bit.

“Oh, don’t worry honey. My shit’s custom. Not a fucking drop of weakness in me. HAHAHA-“

The spirit vanished instantly from my sight. 

“Huh, I guess you had more bite left after all. Alright slut, bring it-“

**UGGHHH**

She slammed me down, choking the shit out of me as I sputtered.

I reached for my Naginata to counter her but she moved again, gripping my wrist with dizzying accuracy.

But I vowed to overtake her.

I felt it’s hand grasp my throat now, lifting me up into the air.

And then she spoke.

“Listen to me, ALL of you.”

Her voice commanded all our attention, frighteningly authoritative in tone.

I looked down at her now, realizing something.

“You...you look fucking familiar. Like,-like you, couldn’t b-”

“I am not of who you speak,” she immediately destroyed my thoughts, hardly and without remorse.

“But, you are not wholly wrong in your assumption, “Kuro”.”

  
  


“BITCH, HOW THE FUCK DO YOU-”

*SHUUUUUUN*

“THE FUCK?! LET HER GO YOU FUCKING COWARD!”

That Towa lunged at her, attempting to impale her right through with her beam but the blade shattered instantly upon contact. She fell backwards onto her butt, disoriented. Moroha took up her slack.

“You will feel the wrath of my Kurikaramaru!” 

She slashed at her and she was blown back with a startling force.

‘Figured that would happen honestly.’

“Lady Higurashi, Lady Yashahime please cease this. I have no intention of harming any of you.”

“Oh, really? Then why the fuck did you bash my sister HALF TO DEATH?!” Towa screeched.

“Lady Higurashi, “this” is not your sister,” the spirit replied evenly, chilling me with her bluntness.

Tempered and patient, with a voice of a thousand ages.

That Towa looked horrified and confused.

“I am the latent soul of Lady Kikyo’s, high priestess and purveyor of the Higurashi heir, Kagome Higurashi-Dono. Due to the nefarious deeds of the 4 Pillars, her highness has been locked away, inside this sanctuary, asleep in shadow. I have tasked the offspring with one fulfillment:

Free Lady Kagome from this prison and defeat the 4 Pillars of the YOKAI reign.

This task was appointed to you three and if you do not find a way, no one will.”

I had enough of this shit.

I swung to decapitate her, ending this bitch. Her hand reacted in turn, seemingly attempting to snap my neck in turn. 

‘Ah well, least I’ll take her with me.’

The second it came through, 

I was blinded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From this point forward it will follow the travels of the original series but with heavy edits to progression.
> 
> Also, way more violent.


	10. Pennyroyal Tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A time of recovery, as new developments come to light.
> 
> Pennyroyal Tea by Nirvana. RIP Kurt Cobain.

_

Setsuna

  
  


_

“Uuuuuuuuugh…”

“SETSUNA-CHAN!!!”

I came to, ruffled and wracked with confusion, rising quickly from unconsciousness only to slam my right into an obstruction above me.

“OWWW! What the…!”

The self above me rattled with my sudden impact and its fragile contents spilled upon me.

Moroha, who was quiet till now, burst out laughing.

“Bwahahahah! Daaaamn, Setsu you look like a fuckin’ pig right now!”

*OINK, OINK, OIN-

*THWACK*

I saw Towa smash her fist down onto Moroha, almost certainly incapacitating her.

She hurried over on her knees and clasped my cheeks. She brushed the broken ceramics, sand, and dirt covering the blanket and my…

’Wait…where was my…’

“WHAAAA!!!” I flailed about in sudden embarrassment.

Towa slid back, slightly perturbed.

“Where-where are my clothes?!” I screamed, yanking the blanket quickly to cover up my immodest body.

“Ah, Setsuna-chan, have you never been in your skivies before, huh?” Towa laughed heartily then smiled with innocent perversion.

I felt cautiously down my body, noticing very “thin” articles of clothing on my, “unmentionables”.

“Who...undressed me? W-why?” I stuttered out, my usual composure lost to the scenario before me.

“Well, you passed out after the confrontation we had with that “spirit”; your clothes were torn asunder by that blast, same as ours and we had to get you to this village Mei found to make sure there was no serious bodily harm,” she responded.

I looked at her, a wry confusion about my face. “My-my clothes?”

I remember the beating she gave me at first but, to have torn my clothes off? 

“Thankfully, we were all fairly okay, even your wounds were minimal, yet the subsequent blast that happened destroyed the blessings on our garb, shredding them to pieces.”

I was slowly making sense of Towa’s speech but a niggling thing came to mind...

I finally noticed she had different clothes on now, ones more traditional than I had ever seen her. A lovely satin kimono draped her lithe figure, enticing me. 

‘How dare I, really.’

“We’re having the villagers seamstresses sew them; such kind people here.”

“Towa-s-san, I appreciate this but we cannot delay much further. If I am as well as you say, we have no time to relax,” I rose, feeling a strange affixion around my “upper section”. I looked down at my chest, seeing an unorthodox garment upon me.

“What is this…”chest affixment” you have on me? And, why is it so...is it-it...SOOOOO TIIIIGHT?!” I stretched hard, feeling the fabric dig hard into my upper abdomen, limiting not only my range of motion but also my ability to twist. I fell back on the bed, sore.

“Well, we couldn’t have you…”exposed” to the village doctor soooo...I put a bra on you. I’m really sorry! That’s the only size I brought with me!”

She clapped her hands together and bowed in solemn apology. 

I realized my outburst was unwarranted, and patted her back gracefully. 

“As if you’ve done anything wrong her, dear sister.”

I reassured her, still wincing in pain at the tightness of it.

“EEEK! Sorry, Setsuna-Chan! I really wish I had several cup sizes larger for how generous your…”assets” are,” she blushed profusely at that word.

“Ass-ets?” I questioned.

“She means your tits, babe,” Moroha, ever tactful had recovered from Towa’s strike rather quickly. And said that without the slightest hint of shame.

Towa had now relented entirely, bowing as low as possible to me, not daring to look up.

“It’s...it’s okay. Just, bring me my bandages please. I detest this…”thing” restraining me.”

“That’s just the thing, Setsuna. Ummm…your bandages were ripped to shreds, and well…,” she replied timidly.

“Yeah, Sweetie Pie! Looks like you’re gonna have to get used to that getup! Hahahaha-!!!”

**THWACK**

Moroha was down again but it was not Towa who delivered the hit this time.

“Mei-chan…” I said watching her smile at me after rendering Moroha practically hammered.

_

Towa

_

_“WHAT THE FUCK DO WE DO?!”_

_Moroha was the least blown back by the sudden white explosion that busted us back to the quaint, grassy meadow before. She looked to me, irritated and pissed off by our predicament._

_“Calm down, Towa-Chan! We gotta save that rambunctious know-it-all sister of yours first!”_

_Moroha charged forward, screaming at my unconscious Setsuna, clothes ripped apart by the epicenter’s blast._

  
  


_“KAMI DAMN YOU! Why the Hell did you just charge in like that?!”_

_She slammed her fist into the ground beside Setsuna’s body, looking back at me._

_“TOWA! We gotta find Mei-Chan!”_

_To my surprise, she took an uncharacteristic initiative picking up Setsuna and carrying her on her shoulders. She stumbled when the full weight of my sister was put on her._

_“Damn…you weigh more than you look!”_

_The reality of the situation rushing back to me, I called out to Mei, desperate to know she was okay._

_“MEI-CHAN! MEEEEI CHAAAN!! MEEEEI-CHAAAAAN!!!”_

_By some miracle I heard her respond from the forest ahead, passing by the trees with a fervent hurry to her steps. But, she was not alone._

_There was…a group of villagers by her side? I rushed to her aid as she emerged from the forest. I embraced her, lovingly stroking her head. She had not shed a tear and I, a waterfall literally pouring onto her, stained her shirt and suspenders with my worries and woes._

_I supposed “misplaced” worry it seems._

_“Oh, Mei-chan, I’m so glad you’re unharmed! I will never, EVER, leave your side again. You hear me?” I looked her straight in the face, hoping to quell any misgivings about my neglect but all I saw was a confidence unmatched. Completely unfettered about the events that transpired._

_And a smile…a smile of an invincible warrior._

_Fearless and undaunted by the countless challenges ahead._

_I let go of her steadily, my inner assurance confirmed._

_“Mei-chan, who-who is that with you?” I finally questioned, motioning towards the bewildered group behind her._

_“Towa-oneesan, when you, Setsuna-oneesan, and Moroha-oneesan all disappeared I looked for aid immediately. There was this nearby village I came across, who I asked for assistance. They said they knew Setsuna-oneesan and came to help me look for you,” Mei responded, as level–headed as ever._

_I opened my mouth to speak but was interrupted by Moroha’s cries of frustration, as she trudged slowly with Setsuna on her back. For once, it seemed she was truly angry at the situation she was in. I turned to see the villagers carry in a cot and place Setsuna upon it._

_“Ok, first things first. We need to help Setsuna.”_

_“SETSUNA-SAMA?!” I heard a boy cry out. He rushed past the villagers, an eerie sense of dread about him._

_“SETSUNA-SAMA!!!” he screamed again, reaching the cot and grasping for her hand._

_“Ohhhhh…I WAS SO WORRIED? WHAT HAVE THESE HELLIONS DONE TO YOU?!”_

_He turned to Moroha and I, daggers evident in his rage-filled glare._

_“YOU! I know you, RAT!”_

_He pointed a sharp, scythe-like weapon at Moroha._

_“Fire Rat! Enemy of Yokai Tajiya! I shall cleanse you of your treachery!”_

_He lunged with no warning, his small body and stature never dulling his lethal intent._

___

_Moroha_

___

_**SHRIIIING** _

_We clashed heavy, barely blocking his attack in time. Kurihime shuddered under his surprising strength, no doubt a result of his flared angry transferring. His strike was far more ferocious than I ever expected._

_“THE FUCK?! Pipsqueak, I didn’t do shit to your baby mama here!”_

_“You…YOU LIAR! Where did you take her?! What foul deeds did you commit upon my master?!”_

_He was tenacious, not giving an inch as he reared up for another attack._

_I couldn’t believe he was actually overpowering me!_

_“Towa-cha-chan! A little help would be nice!” I screamed at her shell-shocked stance, seeing her paralysis wave at my heed._

_“Boy, stop this!” she grabbed him both arms, locking him in an advanced Judo hold, two arms locking him in place from the back._

_“You…you scum! How dare you hurt my master! You will pay!” his ferocity still potent but his movements, not so much._

_He flailed in the air as she applied more and more pressure to the hold, causing him to drop his weapon._

_“Ugh! Fine! Finish me then, you wretches! I will not be dishonored by your cowardice!”_

_“LOOK! Listen to us! We did nothing to hurt Setsuna!” Towa screamed at him._

___

_Towa_

___

_“You speak so casually about milady! Who are you?!”_

_His struggles were still ongoing but more subdued now. I loosened my arms a bit, letting slack take hold. He didn’t take advantage of this, which sincerely surprised me._

_“Look, can we…talk this out? We’re not the enemy here, far from it.”_

_My even tone seemed to calm him a bit and seeing how he seemed most upset with Moroha anyhow, I was probably the only voice of reason he would remotely listen to right now. Still, he still struggled against me, finally pushing on my elbow, causing me to lose hold. He in turn, jabbed me in the chest with his other elbow and I was powerless to stop him._

_“I will not fall for your fell words HEATHEN! DIE!”_

_He turned backward, slipping his fingers over the hilt of his fallen weapon and fired a counterattack, sweeping up from the ground. Dammit! I couldn’t react in time!_

_“STOP.”_

_The ground shook with a commanding roar. The cracks I saw burrowed deep around him and everything around us fell to a standstill. He was instantly paralyzed by some unknown force._

_I looked over to the origin of the outburst._

_Mei._

_Her ferocity tore through the area around us and obliterated anything remotely considered an adversary._

_I looked down to see the unquenched fear in the boy’s eyes, his movements stilled to the bone. He no longer had an ounce of strength within him and subsequently fell with the weight of an anvil._

_Mei looked to us and smiled. We were beyond petrified, and just keeled over, in unison, right at that moment._

_

Moroha

_

What a brat, really. Can’t believe he put one over on me like that.

_‘I almost had to use…the “Kiss of Death”. Against such a pipsqueak too. I better improve if I hoped to be any kind of force against these “Pillars”. Pillars, huh. The “Top-Dogs” round these parts. Course, I couldn’t give away my best-kept secret: I had already done away with one of them.’_

Mwahahhahaha!

Still, the way Mei-chan stopped him right in his tracks; I’ve NEVER felt power like that, EVER.

Best not to question it.

_

I looked over to see a nearly naked Setsuna. Judging by the fact she can’t even dream, I wouldn’t say she was peaceful but she certainly looked that way. And the fact that Towa-chan had scrambled to cover up with those black “undergarments” made it all the more hilarious. 

“Towa’s so flat she probably envies how well-endowed her sister really is.”

The thought made me snicker, causing some of the practitioners in the room to stare at me in confusion. I just winced at them. There monk robes betrayed the armor they wore beneath, as if they weren’t ready to offer any hospitality to a wanted rogue like myself. Having already felled countless a beast before, I felt noticeably daunted by their radiated eminence.

_‘Apparently Setsu’s village is quite equipped to handle the mammoths it faces as well as their own kind. If I’m not careful, I could be the next on the chopping block. They’d have to kill me at my fullest though. And there’s no FUCKING way that would happen.’_

_

Setsuna

_

“Ah. So…I suppose I should introduce them then.”

The otherworldly clothes Moroha had packed in that massive sack had actually come to be useful; I suspected to never wear them again, yet lo and behold, here I was with my students and peers, disgraceful dressed and honestly chafed by the offending…”string” Towa had put on my upper section.

_‘Ah, this means she saw you naked. Aren’t you at all excited by that? C’moooon…you can tell me.’_

She was back, yet again. Great, the “sarcasm” I picked up in that other world had come to my repertoire now.

_‘Shut up, RIGHT NOW. I have no patience or time for your antics.’_

She appeared in front of me, tauntingly traipsing round the bodies of my fellow compatriots, twirling about in a gross display of complacency. When I ignored these gestures, she sat down right in front of me, pouting like a petulant child.

_‘Ah, oh pooh…if only you weren’t such a stick-in-the-mud I would have taken that bitch back there easy. So much latent power, yet no will to use it. Tis’ a shame, really.’_

She stood up and lay against the wall of the thatched wood house, very unbecoming and prissy; still my spitting image, yet not like me at all. Pathetic. That epithet she used however, I could not ignore.

_‘Did you just… how dare you address a lordess so brazenly! And you dare take my visage while so! You are truly infuriating!’_

Knowing from past experience this was about the amount of time I could take with her before my real world silence became an issue, I slipped out of my mind’s realm, still fuming at her unconsciously.

_‘Ah, leaving so soon?’_ she offered one final retort before I was brought back to reality.

_

“Setsu? Are you ok? You’re spacing out again.” I heard a tiny concerned voice on the other end of my mind. A voice…familiar.

I felt a slight tug on my clothes, though I knew not where.

A flash of a red strand of hair in my peripheral, coming back to me now.

“Setsuna-sama? Are you…shall we rejoin some other time? I can understand if my master is not w-well after that ordeal.” He seemed shaken, as if something deeply frightened him. I had never seen him like this.

Hisui, my shining pupil, always at my side. And yet, this past month I had all but forgotten his existence.

_‘How dare I.’_

“Hisui-san, I appreciate your concern, but I am quite well. In fact, I believe the “break” we are taking for my health is unwarranted. We, as Yokai Tajiya should be relentless in pursuit of evi-“

**YAAAAAAAWN**

Towa, who had until now kept beside me, laid her head upon my shoulder, snuggling up to me lovingly, beginning to snore. I realize how listless she must’ve felt after such a torrid night of watching over me…but to so slovenly lay upon my shoulder, especially with so many of the others watching me…

I felt a liquid protrude from her mouth, very much unfiltered. ‘Sh-s-she’s drooling?! Cmon!”

“Lady Setsuna?” Sora had spoken up, forgetting he was out of turn and looked over to Hisui’s confused face. Hisui spoke up for him, visibly irate.

“Setsuna-sama, who are these ruffians you are traveling with? They were very ob-obstructive in our efforts to-“

“No. We weren’t.”

From the sliding screen door, we heard Mei-chan come in, a presence up until now that had been so welcome, had now given life to something catatonic.

“We had only helped Setsuna-oneesan.”

Hisui looked deathly pale at the mere sight of her.

“Hiusi-san, was it? They are MY onee-sans and you treat them ALL with respect.”

Mei’s command froze the student and even elders in their seat, the room now drenched with dread.

“Y-y-yy-es Mm-mm-m-m-Mei S-s-s-s-sss—s-san…” he barely managed to respond, stiff as a board.

She looked at him sternly and then with a smile on her face said, “You’re cute. Hehe.”

He might as well have shattered on the spot right there, into a million pieces.

I felt Towa’s head further imprint softly on my shoulder, the weight of her upper section giving way as she drifted to sleep from my neck to my lap, falling relentlessly on my kneeled legs and torso.

It was admittedly both arousing and adorable to be perfectly frank with myself but it became all too embarrassing the second I felt her saliva drop from her mouth and stain my dress.

I looked to her and then out to my students in horror only to see complete stoicism gripping the room. 

Not. One. Peep.

_

Towa

_

I felt immense guilt for my unconscious actions during Setsuna’s meeting, though she seemed completely ambivalent to the entire situation. Huh, wonder why.

As we received our re-mended clothes, graciously given by Kaede-dono’s, we met to set off once more.

Mei-chan had taken a liking to the jobs of the seamstresses and elected to stay at the village. I was still very much processing the fact that she was here to FUCKING BEGIN WITH! But I digress.

Moroha, who I expected to be more mischievous during our weeklong recovery, was unnaturally quiet. Something tells me there’s something she’s keeping from us.

_

Setsuna

_

I was used to the lonesome nights now. Always staring up at Kami’s higher domain, the God’s gracing me with their presence, and yet…

This last month’s events that had transpired, the genuine glee that girl gave me; her soft limbs sprawled by me in the coming hours. And then those visions…

I had begun to accept them. Crave their possibility. Whisper the sweet sultry fantasies of the taboo.

_‘Sick.’_

_“Ah, well you know, cousin marrying isn’t unheard of. Hell, I know of one chick that pined after her fraternal brother for years. You ain’t all that an a bag o’ potato chips, really.”_

She came by again, standing by the cliff’s edge, triumphant in her “supposed” superior thinking. As if logic was a mercy she was ever granted. And what does that even mean? Po-ta-to chips? Huh?

_“You had some back in the other world. Remember?”_

“I HAD NO SUCH THING!” without the advent of company, I could be as vocal as I needed with her.

_“Ah, that’s right. You are denser than a sack of hammers sometimes, I forgot. Silly lil’ me.”_

“You have to realize…it’s not the same,” I struggled getting out, knowing full well I was not of sound mind speaking to myself.

_“Ah, you know it’s no different. Towa is simply more desirable to you each day. You can’t hide that,”_ she replied curtly.

Approaching me, her saunter of sensuous intent, laying beside me in much the same way Towa did.

_“Ah, you’ve already kissed, what’s the harm in going further? In fact, if you’d only give her to me, I’d show her a riling good time.”_

She seemed so much more reserved in the other world, now only antagonistic in her rhetoric.

‘If only she’d go away’…I had once thought her a steady conscious of my more off-color thoughts and now…

She suddenly tipped up my chin with her finger, a spiteful glare deep in her eyes. I had a hard time reconciling the fact she wasn’t real. I gulped, saying nothing.

_“Be careful what you wish for, Setsuna. You may not like the alternative.”_

“What the…what is going on?! Now there is two of me?!”

Another figure appeared behind me, heavy with malice.

She had appeared to me before, simply a distraction really. And now that she had taken over against that woman, she felt frighteningly lethal to me.

_“I wonder, how many times will we have to split to see you break? Thrice more? Or are two enough?”_

I heard another voice, my own from behind, my own blade being pushed against my back. I panicked, my eyes dilating. 

“HOW?!”

_“Ah, “how” she says? How trite.”_

_

Shiro

_

I split. Again. And this time, so spontaneous.

I’m sure Kuro and Aka were just toying with her, but I couldn’t let this go on. I had to intervene. To save her, from her selves.

_‘But at this rate, will one usurp the master?’ Aoi spoke up, startling me._

_‘You must be willing to accept the outcome, whatever it is. You know that any interference will only be disastrous. I feel your pain, but it is far too dangerous to think that way,’ she said, always monotone._

_‘Starting a war in her mind is the last thing any of us want.’_

‘I MUST HELP HER! You don’t know her like I do! Her conscious, it’s far too fragile to withstand this revelation!’ I pleaded with Aoi to let me come to her aid but she had no intention of allowing me passage. 

I looked back to see Aka and Kuro had left her, their mischief managed after they got their rocks off on frightening her.

How I wanted to come and sit by her side, but my oculus grew smaller and smaller until the doorway finally slammed shut entirely.

I had to talk with Council.

As soon as possible.

_

Setsuna

_

Again, the sun rose. The birds chirped in their nests, well rested from the night before. The lilies danced in the breeze, flaunting their petals to the bees they wooed beside.

And I, frozen, stood up.

These sessions, the longer I was conscious, the more confused I became. And now I saw two of myself last night.

‘What spell could be so potent It warped reality and time only for me?’

“SETSUNA-CHAN!!! We’re heading out now!” Towa called to me, leaving the hut I declined to enter last night. Moroha followed behind her, smirking and then motioning for me to come join them.

‘Towa, could you really save me from the machinations plaguing me?’

I could only hope.

_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We begin the journey next.


	11. Three Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The three set off, still reconciling their misgivings as the reality of their journey slowly dawns on them.
> 
> Three Days by Jane's Addiction. RIP Xiola Blue.

Towa

_

We set out now on our journey. I, with my trusty ten speed and them, following behind. Well, Setsuna was farther back than I’d have liked. She seemed to have listlessness to each of her steps. Waning away from me, eclipsed in my shadows unformed.

_‘What have I done now? Was it…yeah it probably was my actions during her meeting with the Tajiya. Still, I was so restless these past couple nights! Who could really- No, I need to watch how I act.’_

Moroha was unconcerned by the cold distance Setsuna maintained throughout our first couple of hours. 

The countryside looked so lovely, a far cry from the townships and residences I had long seen topple over it. The death of Gaia, then brought back life in a flash. And its sweetness would only match her.

Her stony saunter, the way she traipsed by the mountainside, the stones placed behind her all a history of their own.

She was born of this world truly and though I knew I was as well truthfully speaking, my absence had caused an irreversible rift between us. _‘I will find the reason this has happened to us, I swear. You and I will be whole once more and I VOW to bring back your peace in life’s slumber.’_

_“As long as you…let…me.”_

___

Setsuna

_

I wanted to stay by her, by her odd two wheeled, one seated cart. Really, I did. She’d often have to take longer routes with it when we were met with high rocks or steep ridges. The canyon side up a ways was kind of treacherous in it’s own right, so I felt the device, though useful on plains, largely a hindrance for her.

But I wouldn’t tell her that.

It was my lot in life to be bereft of her even more so than when we were apart for so long. I’d stayed so far back now, the soil I passed no longer felt like the same as when she walked the same steps. Her shoes still imprinted in the ground, barely visible next to mine. But I said nothing, keeping my distance from her up the tree’s corridors and river’s bridges. 

I’d take the side, often climbing higher than these two, to show not only the road ahead but also my own inner loneliness manifesting. Least, “they” stayed dormant for now. The satyrs of woe. My drunken visages tormenting me now.

_‘It’s for her sake, not mine. To keep these evils within, within only. To not aggravate these personalities of mine, some of which wish only to carve her heart out on a plate and eat it raw. Lest I have control, there shall be NO willful interaction.”_

_“It stains me to be this cruel to a cherub so joyful.”_

___

Moroha

_

These two were fucking weird, okay? Hell, I was figurin’ I’D start avoiding em’ too.

You’d have Setsuna stay as far fuck back as possible from her whenever we were on flat terrain and then once we climbed some rocks or some shit, she’d scale em’ in a instant, then wait for us, then stayed back again.

Like, C’MOoooN! We’re finally back to normal after Kami knows how long and these two just want a quiet feud! Their sister’s for Kami’s sake! With…well ya know, more than the usual amount of affection towards each other, though they sure ain’t showing it right now. Towa-chan wouldn’t speak up to her, probably fearing the wanton unnecessary guilt she always carried and Setsuna-chan was like the English: she’d just hold in all her emotions and then one day she’d die. HAHAHAHA!!!

I was thinking about ending this. Ya know, just playing a trick on one so that the other would finally react.

Or best of all, trip Towa-chan off a cliff and then Setsuna-chan would have to come to her rescue. It’d have to be pretty a shallow drop though; don’t see Towa-chan reacting fast enough for a high one.

Eh…I’d probably get disemboweled anyway. I wanna rematch with that bitch sure, but now wasn’t the time.

_

Towa had this weird contraption she’d have to wheel around manually from time to time; usually in the grasslands. It was interestin’ I guess, in it’s own right. But just…why? Why’d she bring this thing if she had to carry it half the time? Bout time I asked her.

“Hey, the mountain ain’t moving for ya. You gonna keep luggin that thing around?”

She’d respond, irate to me, “YES! She’s my bike, a SCHWINN! You know how much these things COST nowadays?!”

Her increased strength came in handy at least as it seemed fairly light when she carried it over her shoulder.

The edges of the jagged rocks never perturbing her careful steps.

“Shw-inn? The fuck is that? It doesn’t look like it’d sell for much.”

“Shows what you know,” she said as she climbed up to my level, our journey now continuing as Setsuna hid behind waiting for us to go ahead.

_‘Weirdo.’_

“SCHWINN’s are famous where I come from. They have a dependability that is unmatched. And she is…precious to me. I’ve had her for so many years and she’s never failed me once. Even now, in the fuckin’ Middle Ages.”

“Middle Ages?” _‘The Hell does that mean?’_

“Yeah, it’s…wel- it’s what we designated this time. Ya know, the Edo period, and then there was the Meiji, Taisho, Showa, and now well, back in my time “NOW” I mean, we’re in what’s called the Heisei period. And I’m sure in another 20 years or so we’ll be in another period.``

“Why don’t you just call it by the Daimyo’s decree? The Shogunate designates the year of our lord. I don’t know what all this “TaishoShoawaHesee” nonsense means but it ain’t what I was taught.”

She looked at me with a humorous smile, as if I were some kinda baby to her.

“Well, THEY did call it that BACK then. Or I guess, now, where we are right NOW. But then, several world-changing circumstances happened. One was what the Americans designated as the Imperialist Trade routes and we in kind opened our doors with China, Mongolia, and South Philippines.”

“Yeah, but don’t we already do that? I’ve seen paintings of Englishmen and Women, even if I ain’t never met em’.”

“True, but the vast age of commerce and material wealth brought both new ways of communication and knowledge of the outside world and horrifying wars built on technology beyond our understanding. It was…a large period of global turnover…but now, the era I was born in, past 1971, THAT era is one of growing understanding and acceptance. We even have one of the greatest creations I feel, Anime, proliferating through our culture. It brings old and new ideas and combines them.”

“An-eimay? What is it, like, some sorta…”

“It’s…well, I kinda wished I showed it to you over the month you were over. Ya know, There was this amazing animation from this convention, never before released on laserdisc or betamax. But I was there to see it in its full glory 6 years ago. It was just called Daikon VI when it aired in 83’ in Osaka. What they did was combine this European prog song with this amazing conglomeration of anime and like, nerdy properties to celebrate the beauty of these things as art forms.”

“Daikon IV? Laserdsic? Betamax?”

“Eh, yeah I guess you don’t know anything bout’ those. Anyway, “Anime” is literally thousands of drawings done in a style reminiscent of Sowa or Nihongo. Then they put one over the next, kinda like if I were to paint you running and each painting was of your steps as they hit the ground. It’s an amazing endeavor and takes years of dedication to do right but when its finished…it’s beyond words.”

“Ni-hongo? You mean like, Nippon – “Nihon”?”

“Alright yeah, I’ll explain. Nihongo, which came into popularity in the mid 1800s, really took form when Japanese artists began taking cues from European painters like Manet and Vincent Van Gogh. One of the finest of them all was a man by the name of Katsushika Hokusai who paved new ways for the expansion of landscape painting and creation. The Europeans brought with them new staging, idea of perspective beyond two-dimensional configurations, and a plethora of modernist muses.”

I looked at her straight in the face and said bluntly, “Yeah okaaaay, but pretend I don’t give a fuck about all that.”

She looked pissed at my irreverence to her obsessive craze. “Fine. ANIME is just a Japanese entertainment industry. It’s like…cartoons. Its just…art.”

“So like the wall paintings and scrolls?”

“Well, yeah.”

“So, instead of making your living as a farmer or some profession under the Shogun, the “NEW” age says you gotta watch cartoons?”

“NO! Well, no not exactly but I mean…*SIGH* I’ll show you when we get back.”

“Oh, I’M STAYING HERE, SISTER. You ain’t bringing me back to that iron fortress.”

“It’s just buildings and yeah, I get it, it’s pretty abysmal how you can’t see the rolling fields any more but it’s nothing compared to the desolation of the West. And anyway, why wouldn’t you come back with me? My family loves you! You know that, right?”

I turned more serious to that notion than I usually deigned to be. 

“Yes, but…we’re only told we’re related now. That somehow you knew Setsuna and she didn’t know you; that ain’t my business but I’m still ALONE here. I didn’t have some sort of mystical bond with a beloved sibling, not anything like the kind you two have. You can be all lovey-dovey with each other cause of this gap in memory but I

…I don’t really have anyone to call my own.”

I started feeling the depression I had stored away. My bravado withstood all of this real tension I felt day to day yet even I could be broken down by the simplest of emotions, sorrow.

Towa saw my uneasiness and embraced me gently, warming my heart while also surprising me greatly. My eyes felt lidless in shock as she caressed my head and my inner canine stood hair-on-end at the gesture.

“S’okay, Moroha-chan. These are normal thoughts to have. You don’t need this mask you don all the time.”

I wanted to retort but somehow I felt my pride would do me no favors here.

She pulled back, leaving my arms quivering just a bit, her grip on me still firm but gentle. She smiled while tilting her head, her eyes closing to smile with her. 

I decided to stand up, not out of embarrassment but out of showing any further affection. Real empathy was something I still couldn’t quite grasp. I motioned to continue on, thankful she obliged quickly and even more thankful Setsuna was far enough back to not witness what had just happened.

_‘Maybe I am like her sister, after all.’_

_

Towa

_

We arrived in a town not too far off of the main cliff’s overlook. Heiwa had been on a day’s journey since and all throughout she never spoke to me once. It has REALLY bothered me now. I mean, was she asking me to make the first move? She was like, a mile back all the time! And worst, when I would wait up for her, she would stay right where she was.

Well, she can’t stay so far back in town. People would notice. She’d look like some assassin from the mist, tailing us through the crowds. No, she wouldn’t risk looking so suspicious. Yet still, I saw purposefully lag behind us, 

This town was littered with cats, mostly of the same breed as far as I could tell. A menagerie gone wild. Women and children cradling them lovingly in their arms. 

_‘If only my cat were so affectionate.’_

Seeing how docile they were, I went up to pet one. It recoiled and hissed at me, a discouraging reaction to be sure.

_‘Figures…’_

Moroha stepped back, having been beside me the last couple hours down. She looked tense and ready for combat.

“Towa, GET BACK NOW!”

She sprang into action, katana at the ready to cleave the kitty in two. 

  
  


“NOOOOO, STOP!” I yelled, defying her warning and trying to save the poor thing. Just then, its form grew into that of a monstrous beast, still the same size but no less ferocious.

“Demon cats, huh…Shoulda known.”

I readied my blade now aware of the danger they possessed.

**MRROOWWWR**

They roared past me, faster than I anticipated, attempting to swing at me from behind. I countered and slashed right through, cleaving the demon in half. It dissipated instantly, it’s life force depleted.

Then, the town’s people began morphing into these diabolical looking felines. _‘Oh.Noooo.’_

They jumped into action, Moroha and Setsuna fending off several by themselves. They seemed to come in droves, an onslaught from out of nowhere. But they dealt with them fiercely, merciless yet so radiant in their swipes. 

Setsuna weaved in and out between them, their fragile lives snuffed away in an instant, her face never daunted by the cold judgment she exorcised upon them. I was in awe watching her work, her effortless movements easily enticing me. _‘Ohhhhh, how wrought I am now.’_

Just then, the creatures of the damned disappeared, called back from the mortal coil.

We saw the remnants of their ectoplasm disintegrate in the air, a sure sign these were living beings not too long ago. Women, children, and real cats. 

I felt sorry for the poor things, their lives taken from them at a much earlier stage than intended. They had not a long life in the first place; to so cruelly end them for nefarious purposes raised my litter of hate upon the yet unknown perpetrator.

“Well, THAT was weird. Never liked cats anyway though. Fuck, might as well be bigger rats honestly,” Moroha broke the tension in the air with her usual boastful quips.

Setsuna, surprisingly, turned to her and addressed her directly, the very first time I heard her speak in over three days.

“Don’t they refer to you as the “Fire Rat”, though? I always assumed you’d be quite fond of rats,” her tone was still straight-laced as can be yet I could hear an inkling of humor and sarcasm behind her façade.

Moroha seemed as shocked as I at the sudden reference to her; she almost didn’t reply back.

“…well, that-that was JUST a name they gave me, really. I never asked for it. They just, well you know, needed a name to strike fear in the hearts of the people they manipulated.”

Setsuna looked intrigued a bit by the more serious tone Moroha adopted, raising her curiosity.

“Oh? The Yokai Tajiya did not give you that name?”

“NO! Not at all! Some government police sent it out, ya know, like all the wanted posters of the “baddies” they’re trying to capture nowadays. They had a bounty on my head too, even though I didn’t, like, do any of those things. I was just… there.”

Setsuna softened at this honest exchange they had prompting me to try and communicate with her for the first time for what felt like a fortnight.

“Setsuna, shall we find who caused this? These souls must be avenged,” I said, standing unwavered by the anxiety I felt inside.

She looked to me directly, her eyes now taking my form in once more with purpose, and I saw the blush in her cheeks consume her face. Entirely beet red, she turned away from me but followed behind after I made strides to leave this area, in hopes it wasn’t me she had this unprompted disdain for.

-

Setsuna

_

She was too soft.

That hesitation she had then made me want to come out and slap her right in the face.

_“You can’t do that. You hesitate here, you die.”_

I needed to tell her we weren’t in her world anymore. This place is lethal and at any turn the life of a Demon Slayer can be ended, just like that. And I dare not think of what I would do without her now. With these personalities all vying to take over, her presence seems to be the thread that both binds them together and tears them away. Her kind face does wonders to me, like when she spoke to me today and yet, it is that same innocence that will be her undoing should she underestimate the evil lurking just beneath our shadows.

_‘Damn these entities among me, I must teach her this mercy of hers is folly.’_

-

Moroha

_

We came upon this ramshackle temple, with a just recently patched hole in the roof. As we ascended the stairs forward, I felt the eerie creak of the wood fibers, giving in to the weight of our steps. The shoji at the front was unkempt, with tiny tears in the fabric of its screen. As Towa reached for the handle, I felt a foreboding atmosphere wash over us all. She slid it open gingerly, as if the thing itself would come alive somehow. 

We stepped inside, the tatami in front tattered and torn with pieces of its weave sticking up; wooden daggers warning us of the danger coming.

Yet, all that came before our eyes was a monk, sequestered in solitude and meditation evenly with his back turned to us.

_‘Ahhh, it makes sense now. The monk has taken up a place of evil to hone his skills in exorcism. Clever.’_

“HEEELLO! ARE YOU THE OWNER OF THIS HOUSE?” Towa yelled to the man embarrassing us all. I wanted so badly to smack her silly for the outburst. Yeah, those peasants and the like we’ve met, they ain’t too bright but even she should know not to speak so casually to an emissary of Kami.

Setsuna looked over to me and we both seemed to have taken the next step into consideration.

She gently pulled Towa’s shoulder aside while I yanked her back, subsequently to the floor.

I could feel her wanting to get back at me for that but I ignored her presence for the time being.

Setsauna began, “Your grace, we seek asylum for the night from the Yokai in these parts. We have slain the townsfolk who were corrupted and as such must be cleansed of their plague. Surely your grace, you have meager accommodations for my companions and I?”

He rose to her plea, turning to us with a fair smile about him. He was young and of an assured stature, not one so easily trifled with. He spoke as well with a demure speech, matching his vast intellect.

“I am Juan, a nomad among these parts. I have taken up residence here temporarily because Kami wished me to investigate the evil among this area. My sensei trained me well but alas I have had no success in vanquishing the darkness permeating this area. If you wish to say, I would be happy to make room for you and your guests, erm sire…?”

“Setsuna. And these are my companions Towa and Moroha. We are humbled by your generosity, your grace.”

She gave a deep bow as did I and when I saw Towa still on the floor I urged her to do the same.

_‘She may be cute but she must learn to respect Kami.’_

-

Towa

-

I didn’t really get any of this.

I mean in school they were always tellin’ us to bow our heads to the teacher. Ya know, that “Respect your Elders” kinda shit. Really, what did they know?

Teach’ was crooked half the time, chain-smoking her ass off outside. 

I always saw the principal boozing it up in the lounge as I walked by.

And those pissants at the assembly, my “senpai”s, prattling’ on about the livers we would undertake after

Buncha bullshit if you ask me.

Naw, I never got it. Ancestors from a decrepit age wanting to push their outdated beliefs on us, that’s what it was. Yeah, the world today is pretty shite but I’m talking about the big picture. Technology causes change and change is inevitable. All we see everyday is two generations fighting each other for control but great things happen in the meantime.

I mean, we’re in the age of the greatest technological advancement on Earth. The Berlin Wall just fell this month and we’ve created the world’s first Microsoft PC with Apple making strides greater than ever now, combining companies, people, and nations with the new World Wide Web. Our movies have been perhaps unbeatable with the return of beloved heroes like Batman and sci-fi adventures like James Cameron’s The Abyss. The Dalai Lama’s work with millions earned him the Nobel Peace prize and Global Positioning Tracking System technology has been launched into space for the first time ever. The efforts of humanity have never been higher…

And yet, must we focus on the buffoonery of these relics in the White House, the stupidity of the remnants of the Thatcherist theocracy in Parliament, the intolerable atrocities committed by the Chinese government, the reprehensible evils of the now disbanded USSR and KGB, or the silliness of the crazed Japanese Diet? 

Humanity is better than this. I’ve seen it. We need no false illusions to cling to, to distract us from our continued evolution. These things hold us back, proving our Cro-Magnon minds inadequate for the greatness that awaits us in life.

Constantly pushed about by lesser situations, things not worth even mentioning for their even utterance casts a wave of dumbness across entire civilizations. Points not even remotely interesting. Ideas not even worth considering. Entities not corporeal enough to acknowledge.

Buncha deaf mutes we are, lost in the fields of stupor.

We should instead remain steadfast in our every day walks, always blotting out the unnecessary no matter any situation. Using the sense in our minds to delineate these falsities instantly. I sincerely hope as the 90's come upon us we are blessed with knowledge yet unknown to us and the cosmos expands infinitely in our wake.

And now as I walk into the spring behind, naked as the day I was born, hearing a splash loud as could be, I thought…

_‘Setsuna?’_

-

Setsuna

-

The monk was so kind, leading us to a hot spring by the back, a bit of the ways up the surrounding mountain. He spoke of its purifying waters, the steam itself lifting the stench we were stained by earlier off us.

The trek was nice, the terrain even and smooth yet I felt immense dread at the thought of Towa seeing me like this. Her eyes never wandered so far in our month together as I casually bathed in her denizen’s house. Thankfully, even the man of the household was quite well behaved, never leering at I or Moroha. I was grateful at the chance of resuming my daily bathing practices, this time much more comfortable in the properties of an onsen rather than her “bathtub”.

I smiled at the sight of it. Compared to the house before, its upkeep was impeccable, a veritable image of excellence.

As I disrobed I felt at ease once more.

“ _Ah, it’s been awhile hasn’t it?”_

Shiro appeared ahead, already bathing with her feet rising bare from the steaming water.

“What is this now? You disappear from my mind for four days straight and now you speak to me so casually?! After what you did?! Were I not bare as the day I was born right now, I’d beat you broken.”

My fist clenched hard, an inner strength rising in me as I had not felt before. It was small yet felt like a bounty of potential for more lest some floodgates go open wildly.

She laughed at me. _“Ah, dear Set-sun-aaa, that was not I. It was your others, Aka and Kuro. They wish harm upon you lest you let down your ward less guard. I, however, desire no such thing. Your fears of me are unfounded.”_

I stood there still, mulling over the empty words she spouted.

Her smile turned to one of irritation.

_“Ah, well come now! Sit by me here! I know how you have so desperately wanted to bathe these past few days.”_

I now reluctantly entered, my body betraying my mind now as my legs reacted in ecstasy to the searing hot water surrounding me. The blush came to my face in an instant, my inebriation beginning without an ounce of protest.

_“Ah, see. You cannot betray your true reactions. That’s one thing I love about us; we really are quite honest no matter what feint we may give off,”_ she gestured for me to come closer. I did so under duress, covering myself as I slowly made my way to her.

When I was in reach, she grabbed me and pulled me down, the water splashing up violently and the swiftness of her action. I, in kind, reacted, slamming my fist into the rock beside her. I felt the cracks created spread wide at the force of the hit. I still crashed my torso into hers, our chests entirely too close and my comfort level dropping rapidly. She only smirked, befitting of her shameless aura.

_“Ah, you do enjoy this now? Being on top? Though I am not a short white haired bombshell so your disappointment in the situation is duly noted.”_

I had to push back before my eyes bled out of my head in rage. And then it occurred to me…

_‘She’s not really there right? It’s just a vision I’m seeing so why am I feeling her –‘_

_“Ah, Setsuna, my dear we have never been “visions” as you say. We exist, wholly. The same as that rock you’ve just struck. That’s why I came to warn you.”_

Her tone dipped into a territory unlike her, the grip she had on me tightened but not painful.

_“You must understand the danger you are in lest those vixens take hold of you. They are aberrant, without mercy and filled only with malice. And they will take her by force. I am your lifeline, I protect from them as best I can._

_But I can only do so much. You must master this curse laid upon you soon to end the multiplying of their splits in your head. I know only as much as the Council does and although you cannot know yet where this stems from, you should work fast to quell it immediately.”_

Now I was angry and not because of some pithy modesty. 

“WHO ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!” I grabbed her previously thought untouchable form and shook her violently.

“If you think I am so helpless as to be murdered by my other selves then tell me WHO THESE PEOPLE ARE?! Why can I not dream? Where does this all stem from?! WHY DO I THINK OF TOWA AS A LOVER WOULD?!”

She looked taken aback at my shouting, her precognitive mind seemingly jarred by me.

_“…I can tell you this. Your childhood is lost because of the fire that separated you two. If you find who caused it, it might end these other personalities. As for your love of Towa, that is for you to find out on your own.”_

She vanished from me then, her time here spent it seems. 

And I crashed down into the water below from the sudden lack of support.

“SETSUNA!” 

_

I heard a scream from above the water, a hand reaching down to grab and pull me out.

**GASP**

I coughed up, my lungs re-adjusting to the outside air.

Towa, looked at me smiling as gentle as before yet with tears in her eyes.

“Oh SETSUNA! I’M SO GLAD YOU’RE OKAY!”

She embraced me, the water’s level rising as the two of us were now added to its volume.

And I, unable to shirk away now, returned her gesture.

-

Towa

-

She looked coarse.

Worn thin indeed with the onsen’s natural properties trying to wax her weakling heart.

“Setsuna, what happened?” I questioned as softly as I could, seeing a dark crack in the rocks beside us.

She lay in near my lap with her chest just above the waters’ edge. Her eyes barely lidded and face overturned in red.

She still did not speak to me easily, but her pants made it still true she was not trying to avoid me.

I looked down at her and thought of the best words to end her silence with me.

“Setsuna, I am deeply sorry about the meeting. I was vast with grief over your safety those nights and couldn’t help myself. I know it is not fair as your dreams have been taken from you, but if you would, confide in me now; I would love to hear your sweet voice again.”

Her eyes were shattered by my words, a fault given by my sincerity to her full life form. She did not move or turn away but she did finally reply.

“Towa, what…separated us? From each other? I…don’t remember.”

I looked at her and said with melancholy, “It was a fire, a fire separated us. I was with you then, we were running through the forest. And then, as we slept beside an old tree, a flame a lit came roaring, engulfing everything around us.

And I, I grabbed your hand and ran, searching endlessly for a way out of the inferno. And…

I let you go! I LET YOU GO, I WAS SO STUPID! I couldn’t hang on to you tighter and you slipped away from me!

I wasn’t strong enough.”

I was at ends now, tears effortlessly falling down my face, onto hers as well. I felt so ashamed at my weakness but I just couldn’t stop now. My eyes were unable to look back at her.

Then she clasped my cheeks and leaned upward and I felt a sensation elicited by her that made me question falling unconscious. 

She kissed me.

-

“I don’t want us to have anymore of this pain we so blatantly carry. If we are to know each other like this, without cause to shy away from morality or fidelity, we must be one. Of one mind, of one soul. And I can’t if I don’t know you. So I must learn and in time we will find the answer.

We will find out who caused that fire, TOGETHER. And we will restore what was stolen from us.”

Her ultimatum struck my very core, my every muscle still contending by the state she had me in afterwards.

_‘SHE. KISSED. ME?! That-that time in the diner, it was just-just a reassurance. She seemed so nervous and I wanted to stop her worrying. And yet, this was a whole other realm to me. Siblings kiss sure, but not like that. I liked girls, but not my own SISTER! Not like that at least! At least, not…like how I thought it would be.’_

_-_

_Her lips had been porcelain, zirconium smooth with the added hint of a sakura petal’s scent emanating between them. To grace my dirty mouth with something so divine…tis a sacrilege. And she didn’t stop there! My surprise let my mouth open enough for her intrude in the most unlikely fashion, not befitting her magnificence. I could barely breathe for the undulation that I was under kept my baser movements dwindling. And how she plunged in with reckless abandon…was this not Setsuna in my arms?! Not some risqué trick of the devil, making a form pretending to be my sister? Or have such emotionless vices we’ve taken upon ourselves been released in a crescendo of kimochi?_

_Oh fuck, I’m this like, self-deprecating, know-it-all, pompous asshole and yet...I know I met my match, my Scarlett O’ Hara._

_She just so happened to be, like my cousin before me, the incestuous…Melanie Hamilton._

_-_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daicon IV is an animation for an Anime Convention made in 1983 with the founding animators of Gainax including the famous Hideaki Anno, known for Neon Genesis Evangelion. It was highly controversial for its blatant copyright infringement and use of ELO's "Twilight", yet its sincerity and non-commercialization turned it into one of the most influential pieces of short animation. Watch it in its entirety here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brUwfQncCvI
> 
> Towa's speech is a reference to Travis Bickle and Holden Caulfield's speeches in Taxi Driver and Catcher in the Rye specifically. It will come back later in the story.
> 
> Scarlett O' Hara is the main character of Margaret Mitchell's, "Gone With The Wind" and in this Towa is personified as Ashley Wilkes, who is also in love with his cousin Melanie Hamilton. 
> 
> I started with Juan's temple and the red castle will come next. I will be skipping over some of the lesser episodes that are just filler for the most part.


	12. Kitty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...

_ - _

Moroha

-

Well, figured this would happen. Ya know, I just wanted to clean off, really I did, in peace and quiet without some invitation to speak about my feelings or some shit. Ya know, just some old fashioned soak while looking up to Kami’s domain and praising her illustrious creations.

But NOOOOOOOOO…we had to have the sibling cuddle fuck time first and Kami knows I hoped it stayed innocent.

Ah, who am I kidding? I’m just glad they’re talking to each other again.

-

I waited patiently for the exhaustive heat of the onsen to give them cause to leave. Even then, it seemed the fumes had taken over, riling their movements in tandem with one another, creating a tango all to their own.

Their jovial drunken steps were unbecoming of supposed royalty but they paid me no mind as they made their way back to the temple. Finally I had a place all to myself, a holy wash to cleanse Orochi from me.

I remember Towa speaking of my hygienic habits over those 30 days at her residence; how I never wore anything other than my prized robes, the pride of a warrior. But SHEEE never complained about Setsuna’s wardrobe! Yeah, she’d wear those prissy dresses one in a while from Towa just to satisfy her, but really we all knew she’d never be comfortable in anything other than her blessed Tajiya garbs. You know, I think Towa got off it a bit; how form fitting the clothes were around Setsuna’s thighs; geez, these two were just giant closet pervs, really.

-

As I walked back from the onsen, I felt an ominous stir in the air. One not so strong as to elicit my feral fears within but enough fro me to heighten my guard. I heard not a stir as I stepped in, the tatami still riddled with splinters. I made for the creaking floors instead, sidling down the hall to avoid the weave of its edges.

I reached the room Juan-dono prepared for us, a small place with bedding fit for no more than two people. Still, I had no reason to refute his hospitality, his grace opting to spend the night in the atrium meditating. Perhaps, he was the one who kept the demonic stir down, as the cool air I felt earlier had receded a bit.

I saw as I opened the shoji they had taken the farthest bed. Together. ‘ _ Ugh.’ _

They predictably fell asleep in each other’s arms, not that I was surprised. Ya know, it just made it way too awkward when I settled down for bed. I took the mat beside them, as they seemed content curled up together; Setsuna was of course, the big spoon. Their faces, so content with the admittedly terrifying leap they had taken now. Just think, only a week ago this would be unthinkable. And now…now they have each other.

Jyubei constantly stiffing me for the great quarries I brought him, and the many people who wanted my head now; for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And now, I had two cousins, two honestly beautiful cousins, who probably look at me like some silly nuisance to their budding loving relationship. However taboo it may be, it’s almost too sweet to have any problem with.

If their love is wrong, I don’t want them to be right.

Yet, then there’s no room for me.

All my life I’ve been scared of letting things in, interacting with the unorthodox world around me. I was content in giving in to my baser instincts, taunting and flirting with those I thought fit to.  _ ‘Why deny the pleasure of life one craves? I f I am to perish, sullied to the ground, with a demon's claw in my back, then I will have no regrets of any lost opportunities I left in my stead. I will die happy.’ _

Least, that’s what I always thought. It was a simple conclusion, really. When you’re out on your own, you have no one to depend on but yourself. 

_ ‘All I ever needed was me. Kami made me who I am and I will not go against her primordial directive.’ _

But now…

Now I ASK YOU. Lordess AMATERASU!

Why now does my heart tender so?! Why now have I broken vows of violence in favor of affection for ones purer than I?

WHY NOW MUST I LIVE IN THE SAME ROOM AS THEM, MERCILESSLY TORTURED BY THEIR UNDYING LOVE?!

Why must they love me too, but not the same? Why must I be related to souls so entwined that to rip their strings of fate apart is to rip their bodies asunder? Why is it that I AM AT MY WITS END, SPEAKING TO YOU NOW AS ONE I HELD SO DEAR, NOW AS A VENGEFUL BEING, WHO WISHES ONLY MY PUREST WOES ALIVE IN THE PURSUIT OF MY EVERLASTING MELANCHOLY?! 

Why Kami, have I been chosen to lead this path, alone? Still in the vicinity of others who cherish my presence, but never more than that of a child? I am a foe ripped of every fiber of my being, cast away into this pond of light and moon, wishing and pleading for a day that will never come. And yet I ask, I beg of you, my only love…

How is it I should ever feel the touch of another dear to me?

-

Setsuna

-

I noticed Moroha had come in, the calming streams effects wearing off now. My alertness heightened quickly as I realized my sister was very much prostrate against my chest, curled like a baby to their mother. My spine tingled at our close proximity, offering little comfort in the wake of any incoming accusations. In fact, I fully expected her to wake and leap away from me at a moment’s notice.

But she did no such thing. I heard her quiet murmurs deep in Rem, a realm I so wished to join her in.

_ “Ah, well isn’t this touching? You look like you're protecting her now. She’s so cute, like a wittle baby, isn’t she?” _

Great, she was back. Though now, her presence was a welcome one compared to the evils those other two could do. It reminded me of just how fragile my mind was. That spontaneously, ANY other form of me could manifest itself in an instant.

_ “Ah, well that’s not quite how that works. We have to be triggered by you, actually.” _

She waltzed over to me, even careful not to disturb Moroha. As if she could.

_ “Ah, what did I say before?” _

She put her hand on my cheek, caressing it all the while.

_ “See? We are as real as you see us.” _

_ ‘Then why did you disappear on me?’  _ I thought, wanting an answer.

_ “Ah, because I saw Towa-chan coming, of course. She can’t see what happens when you interact with us. At first, it was in your mind. You’d just stand still in “reality”. But now, now when you touch us it looks like you’re doing it to yourself. You may see us as separate but really all the movements we do you do too.” _

I looked at her straight in the eye and then a dreadful realization occurred to me.

_ ‘You mean, that night, with those other two? That was me trying to hurt myself?” _

_ “Yes. Right now, you’re touching your cheek. It may look like another you is, but in reality I am you, literally. The reason we are separated to your eyes is because your brain can’t contend with what is going on. As such, your personalities manifest themselves as actual clones of you, a way to tell yourself it’s an “illusion”. _

_ BUT THERE’S NOTHING FICTIONAL ABOUT US. And the further you delve into this mystery, the stranger our presences will become. You must end this before the tipping point.” _

I hesitated asking but had to know. ‘ _ Wh-what’s the tipping point?’ _

She stood up and solemnly walked out of the room, turning back to me with a look of darkness across her face.

“You Die.”

-

Moroha

-

I saw her walk out of the room, leaving Towa alone now.

_ ‘Odd. And they were having so much fun only an hour ago.’ _

I looked over to the wall and saw that her Naginata was gone, my Kurikaramaru still right in the corner. She must have taken it to bed with her, though I hadn’t seen it removed.  _ ‘Just how fast are you? Do you know something I don’t?’ _

Just then I felt the eerie creaking of her step as I laid my head down to floorboards to better hear the movements she made. Her very steps echoed through the halls of the small domicile, the pattern of their actions undeterred. Her pace suddenly quickened a bit, still measured and rhythmic. I leaned closer now and closer and closer….

**CRASH**

The roof shattered violently, exploding to pieces that fell onto us. I felt the debris smashing to the ground, Towa buried under the rubble in an instant.

“TOWAAA!!!” I yelled, jumping as swiftly as I could out the nearest shoji. I tumbled down the steps beside our room, my back slamming onto the cold night’s ground below.

“…THE FUUUUUCK?!!!”

-

Kuro

-

Time to sort this shit out. He’s obviously hiding his abominable malice under the skin of that monk. 

I’ll rend his flesh like boned fish and yank out his heart. And then I’ll have my way with Towa before little miss nanny pulls me back in.Getting control of her body was a challenge but I got the hang of it right as that bitch said those immortal words to her, 

“You die.”

HA! Good one, sis! Now she’s mine for the taking! You didn’t think the shock of the truth would turn her catatonic, didya? She was completely frozen, unable to even articulate verbs to herself anymore. 

A husk for me to pour my death into.

-

He was just sitting there, playing innocent like it was nothing to him to control these yokai around us.

His flagrant arrogance pissed me off.

I turned the corner and yelled at him, raising her Naginata,

” You think you outsmarted me, you fuck?! I got your FUCKING number, RIGHT HERE!”

Her weapon was always cumbersome to me but with my strength it was easily lifted. How I wished for a fucking tanto or kukri blade. That would do some DAMAGE and give me the chance to tear his face off too! Delicious.

He stood up, stunned by my awesomeness no doubt. 

“HA! Didn’t expect me to figure it out so easily! I’m a crack fuck detective on the case and your evidence is gonna be all over the place when I’m through with you.”

He spoke evenly, with that stereotypical “all-knowing” attitude these motherfuckers always have, “Err, Setsuna-dono, have I upset you in some way? Surely I have given you the accommodations you asked for.”

I decided swiftwind would work best here. ‘ _ Just end him quickly and take Towa for my own. Who knows when I’ll get another chance.’ _

I vanished for a split second, appearing right behind him with my blade stabbed right through his heart.

I lifted his blade first as he slid down the length of it, limp.

“PITY! You were just too simple-minded for your own good! Honestly, I was expecting some fight from you. Guess you were just that fucking weak, hu-“

“OHOHOHOHO!” His head went 360 as he turned to me from above, his eyes black and mouth widened beyond his jaw.

“AHAHA, JUST WHAT ARE  **YOU** ?! I know your presence when you entered was rather experienced but by your speech I assumed you were just fresh meat right around the corner. That spring was filled with medicinal properties as well as an herb that causes paralysis in a number of hours. You wouldn’t notice the effects as you would have already been sleeping by the time I feasted on you! And yet, you come in and IMPALE ME?! AHAHA THIS IS MAGNIFICENT!”

He cackled throughout the room, its walls shaking as his limbs distended and tore apart.

“There you are, monster; show me your teeth so I can end you,” I backed away, knowing her blade would do me no good now. His skin peeled off, as a bevy of cats burst forth from his stuck spine. They formed his new muscles, contorting into a demonic tiger. All the while, a huge tongue grew from his mouth and his head came forward. Arms sprouted from his sides with claws two feet in length each sprouting from his paws. The transformation finished he grinned menacingly at me, now 14 feet high and just barely grazing the ceiling of the temple.

“What, a big tiger? That all? Ahahaha! I’m gonna gut you like a fish!” I belted at him before readying my assault.

“HALF BREED, YOU HAVE NO HOPE AGAINST ME! NOW DIEEEE!!!” He bellowed, slamming his fist into the shrine.

I lunged at him, laughing maniacally.

**SMMAAASH**

-


End file.
